A busy morning at the nest

Posted on May 29, 2023 by dinajohnston

It was the end of March and the late baby eagles in my neighborhood were still not flying yet.

I heard Mom screaming and realized that another juvenile (from the nest at the other end of the neighborhood) was cruising over the nest and trying to land. Mom chased off the intruder and landed back on the nest tower. The nest far over on the other end of the neighborhood was several weeks ahead of this nest. Those babies were already flying and this one came looking for an extra meal.

After the intruder left Mom sat there and screamed for a while. I guess she was calling for her mate. The mate flew in and they both sat there for a few minutes. They were on the other end of the tower and it’s was tough to see both of them together.

All of a sudden they started mating. I’ve read that they stress mate even while they still have babies.

After the eagles calmed down I started looking around and saw this woodpecker with a snack on the fence.

A great crested flycatcher and a palm warbler landed in the trees I was sitting under.

I heard some screaming and realized some monk parakeets had flown into the bottle brush trees next to the fence. They were eating the seed off the brushes.

Across the field a squirrel was eating what looked like a big mushroom.

Fun things at the eagle’s nest

Posted on May 6, 2023 by dinajohnston

It was mid-March and I was sitting in my chair along the fence line at the eagle’s nest. I was waiting for the baby eagles to wake up and I look over the small wooden fence and see some deer feeding right in front of me. I stood up to take some pictures and they stopped to check me out but then kept eating and working their way down the utility field.

One of the parents dropped off a tiny fish for breakfast and after eating the oldest baby did some practice flaps.

A few days later and the oldest was still flapping his wings while Mom watched.

On this particular morning I heard a loud scream and got out of my chair and turned around just as a pileated woodpecker flew in the tree next to me. She was pretty close and ignored me.

A red bellied woodpecker flew onto the utility pole next to the tree and started banging. He must have caught the attention of the pileated woodpecker. She flew over and chased him off the pole. I guess size wins in this game. It’s amazing the critters I see at the eagle’s nest.

The flapping has started

Posted on April 20, 2023 by dinajohnston

It was late February and I was stopping by the neighborhood eagle’s nest every couple of days. One morning I caught the parent bringing in a fish for breakfast. Now they were just dropping off the food and letting the babies eat on their own.

At least one parent was still hanging close to the nest.

At one point an osprey flew close to the nest and the eagle was yelling at him to leave.

One of the babies was flapping his new wings and you could still see the pin feathers.

Finally, I could get a decent shot of both of the babies sitting up. The younger one seemed to sleep a lot and wasn’t flapping yet.

The kestrel couple landed on the wire nearby.

A few other birds that came by the nest was a phoebe and a brown thrasher.

I could see a red shoulder hawk far away on the other side of the field.

A great egret flies right over my head.

A bunch of quick stops north of me.

Posted on April 10, 2023 by dinajohnston

My first stop of the morning was at the water treatment plant in Tarpon Springs in late February. I knew the ducks that hang out there in the winter would be heading north before too long. The majority of the ducks were redhead ducks but you never know what you can find mixed in.

There were a handful of lesser scaup floating together away from the redheads.

Far away there were two female buffleheads.

I stopped by the eagle’s nest just north of Tarpon Springs. I pulled over and got out and quickly shot the above before hopping back in the car. There’s no parking along this road and the parking lot at the nearby park was too far away for me to walk so I didn’t stay. These twin babies were much older than the ones in my neighborhood. I didn’t see any adults in my quick stop but I’m sure they were nearby hunting for food.

Another stop was nearby Anclote Gulf Park. The fishing pier is right in the parking lot so I took a quick walk onto the pier. It was a quiet morning here but I managed to see an osprey taking a bath farther down the shore. (Notice the blurry kingfisher sitting on a log in the upper right corner of the 2 middle pictures. I was wishing I was closer to get him as well)

One more stop as I circled back towards home was the Starkey Market just north of me. I had never been before and it was fun to check out the cows next door before going in and getting some vegetables to cook for dinner that night.

Baby season has started

Posted on March 30, 2023 by dinajohnston

Finally, I was able to see the head of a baby on the eagle’s nest in my neighborhood on 2/11. He still had gray fuzz on his head. This nest has been really annoying this year. They rebuilt it farther back on the tower and the nest has sunken in quite a bit. And so many sticks “sticking” up in the way. But I was glad to see at least one baby!

It looks like one of the parents was adding to the nest.

Both parents together on the nest on a sunny morning.

This was the view from the other side of the nest. You can really see where it was sinking in the middle so the babies are hidden far down in the bowl.

At this point there was always one parent on guard on the tower.

One morning I saw an eagle on the big pine tree in front of the Oldsmar pier. He spent a lot of time up here last year but this was this first time seeing him here this year.

Flybys close to the nest included a pelican and osprey. There is an osprey nest close by the eagle’s nest and the osprey will fly close but the eagles always yell at them and they take off.

I heard the pileated woodpecker screaming as he landed on top of the utility pole right in front of where I was standing at the nest. I quickly snapped this and off he went again. I hear them screaming all over the neighborhood.

One of the many osprey nest in the neighborhood. This one is a few towers down from the eagle’s nest. I caught them bringing in padding for the nest. This one is pretty far away.

A full moon before dark.

Dolphins, Osprey and Eagles, Oh My!

Posted on February 22, 2022 by dinajohnston

I found an eagle’s nest in my neighborhood and I’ve been keeping my camera in my car in case I wanted to stop and get some pictures. The nest is high up in a utility tower and it’s a tough shot with the light. The sun is behind it most of the day and I can’t get on the other side.

One recent day I went early in the morning and stood for a while watching the nest. When I first got there I didn’t see any eagles so I though maybe it was a bust but then one flew in and started feeding the baby. You can just make out the baby’s head in between the sticks. I’ve only seen one eagle here so I wonder if the parent is now flying solo with this baby. Both parents usually hang around the nest.

After the eagle’s nest, I headed over to the nearby fishing pier just to see what was going on. It was too nice to head back home. I could see dolphins out in the bay.

There’s usually several osprey diving around for fish but they are far away. This one cruised close to the fishing pier.

At some point I realized there was an eagle chasing the osprey. The osprey had a fish in his talens and the eagle was trying to steal it. Eventually the osprey dropped the fish in the water and the eagle stopped chasing him. They were pretty far out in the bay but it was still pretty cool to see.

The eagle flew by the pier and landed in a tree at the end of the pier. I ran back down the pier towards the parking lot hoping he wouldn’t take off before I got back there. I was able to take a couple of shots before he took off again and flew over the trees towards a neighborhood. Where was he going?

Usual stuff at Circle B Bar Reserve

Posted on April 8, 2019 by dinajohnston

One of my favorite trees at Circle B Bar Reserve. A bald cypress in the middle of the lake. It looks like a great blue heron is nesting on it.

Some of the usual birds along the trail.

A few not so common ones, a Wilson’s snipe and a chipping sparrow.

Purple gallinules were all along the trail.

A few crawling critters.

Across the lake, I could just make out the bald eagles sitting on the right side of the tree. You can also see one of the baby’s brown head sticking up off the nest.

image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup Our World Tuesday Graphic

A lost opportunity

Posted on January 12, 2019 by dinajohnston

Above is an eagle’s nest from 2 years ago at the horse farm near my house. Last winter they nested in a high utility tower instead of this nest. They had taken over an old osprey nest in the tower. I had heard that they were back working on this nest in mid-November so I stopped by the day after a nasty storm had come through the area. When I got to the spot at the farm, the tree was completely empty and the nest was gone.

Here it was on the ground next to the tree. The entire nest had come crashing down and broke apart. It broke my heart to see it on the ground in pieces. I was wondering if this old couple would have it in them to rebuild this nest again or just go back to the utility tower. There wasn’t much of the old tree left.

After walking around the farm for a few minutes, an eagle flies over my head with some nesting material in it. I think this must have been his first visit to the nest this morning.

The mate flew in as well. They seemed confused. Where was their nest? What happened to the tree? The eagle dropped the nesting material and they both took off. At this point, they haven’t returned to the nest to rebuild. I’m assuming they are now back up in the high utility tower close by.

Get a room, or a barn!

Posted on April 9, 2016 by dinajohnston

This one is all alone in the corner.

This couple was getting frisky while the other one watches. Love was still in the air even after Valentine’s day.

Mom eagle is still sitting on the nest. I’m getting worried that the eggs should have hatched by now. I’ll check back on them again in a few weeks.

I was hoping to see baby eagles by now but all I got were kissing horses.

Linking to Saturday’s Critters

Nothing but skeeters at Honeymoon Island in December

Posted on January 14, 2016 by dinajohnston

And this eastern towhee. I don’t see these very often.

Catbirds are very common here.

It’s common to see a kestrel high up in a tree.

The eagle is on the nest. I’ve heard that the rangers have reported there are eggs. I could just barely see her head sticking up. I did not see the other parent that morning.

A downy woodpecker hanging around.

I saw this juvenile bald eagle way out in the lagoon across from the nature center. The tide was very low and the oyster beds were exposed.

It’s not fun to go on a hike in early December and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. I had two coats of bug repellant on with high DEET content. I still came home with 15 bug bites. They were biting my hands, my ears, my face. I stopped and sprayed my hair since they were dive bombing my head. Usually if I keep moving they don’t bother me too much but they were chasing after me as I walked very quickly down the trail. We need a good cold spell to get rid of these guys (like days with a high under 50). It was 85 degrees.

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