A morning of usual critters

On April 18, 2026April 18, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I was at Roosevelt Wetlands in late December hoping to find some great winter ducks but only the usuals were there. Above a pied grebe was watching me take his picture.

Ring-necked ducks are usually here during the winter.

And coots are easy to find in the winter.

A year round bird but not that common is a Cooper’s Hawk. He was hiding in the shadows.

Eastern phoebes and savannah sparrows are plentiful here in the winter.

Boring ole mallards were trying to sleep on the main trail.

Since things were slow at the wetlands I left early and stopped at Philippe Park on the way home. The great horned owls nest here in the winter. Dad was sitting high up in the tree and was easy to find.

Mom was still sitting on the nest. They sat on the nest for a month and abandoned it twice this winter. Something wasn’t working for them. Maybe the eggs weren’t hatching? Everyone thought they would have left the park by now for the season but I’ve recently heard that she’s back nesting on a different tree in the same park. Maybe third time’s a charm?

It was low tide along the sea wall and ibis and a few laughing gulls were feeding in the muck.

The sun through the pink grass

On February 2, 2026March 6, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

In early November I was at the Roosevelt Wetlands near Clearwater early enough to catch sunrise. The native muhly grass along the trail entrance was blooming pink.

The goldenrod was in full bloom as well.

The sun was slowly coming up over the landfill as I made my way down the trail towards the other side of the lake. Yes, this preserve sits next to the largest waste plant and landfill in Pinellas county. As long as the wind blows away from the lake it’s fine. It’s a hot spot for birds most of the year.

I made my way over to the trail that runs along side the lake. Local birders call this “warbler alley” but it was a quiet morning.

One of the northern harriers that spend the winters here was cruising the top of the landfill, looking for a meal.

I found a house wren hiding in the bushes.

A loggerhead shrike sits up high in the sun.

A pied grebe staring at me.

A phoebe was flying in and out of this tree.

A rare scissortail flycatcher was seen in the park and I missed it on this morning but the next day I heard it was hanging around the other side of the waste plant and I stopped by the next day to catch it sitting on a stick for a while.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) at Image-In-Ing.

Looking for a ghost

On February 26, 2025March 7, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

Right before Thanksgiving weekend I was back out at Roosevelt Wetlands (next to the county waste plant in Pinellas county). I was hoping to see the northern harriers that spend their winters at the reserve. I had heard they were back but didn’t see them the week before.

Dragonflies were still out and about since it hadn’t gotten cold yet.

The usual winter birds were there including tons of blue-gray gnatcatchers and eastern phoebes.

A great blue heron flies by and lands in the marsh in front of me.

A wood stork cruises by.

Some friends and I walked to the other end of the marsh. It was an hour later and we still hadn’t seen any harriers. We got about half way back and Lorraine decided to take the middle trail back to her car. I was standing around watching the little birds when I saw her waving her arms from across the trail.

The male harrier (also called the gray ghost) had just flown by.

After flying down the channel outside of the reserve he circled back and came right over my head. I was glad I hung back to watch the little birds and was glad I saw her waving at me.

The rainbow bird and a new one

On February 29, 2024February 17, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights3 Comments

There were reports of a new bird in town. He had been there for several days so I headed over to Sand Key Park to take a look. The above looks like the new bird but it’s just a plain ole eastern phoebe. He was sitting out in the open when I got to the park.

I walked around the area and ran into another couple also looking for the new bird. They had just found it and it popped out for a few seconds. I managed the above quick shot before he went back in the bushes. The western flycatcher (formally know as the pacific slope flycatcher) should not be on this side of the country. He shouldn’t be on this side of Texas. Somehow he must have gone to far to the left when he was migrating south for the winter. He’s still there but it will be interesting to see if he leaves during spring migration. I spent another hour looking for him again but he stayed hidden in the bushes.

While I was waiting for the flycatcher to make another appearance this painted bunting flew right in front of me. What??? He sat there out in the open for a while. I didn’t see any females around or any other males.

He hopped around feeding in the seed for a while and was not shy at all.

There was also a ton of blue gray gnatcatchers.

I walked over to the end of the beach area and noticed it was starting to get cloudy. I could see the tourist pirate ship heading back towards the marina just past the bridge.

A quick snap of the view of Clearwater beach south end. It was cold and there wasn’t too many people out.

Soon there won’t be an inch of space left on Clearwater beach to build on. They keep tearing down the few remaining old 2 story Mom & Pop motels who don’t stand a chance anymore and are building high rises. Sleepy Clearwater beach now looks like Ft Lauderdale beach (and cost almost as much to park here).

Front and back in late October

On February 8, 2024January 27, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I have a ton of palm warblers in the backyard but they rarely come to the suet feeder. This one must have decided to be brave and get a bite in between the woodpeckers feeding on it.

Anytime I look out the window I can usually see a red bellied or downy woodpecker feeding on the suet.

Ugh! A squirrel has figured out the tasty snack. All last winter I didn’t see a single squirrel on the suet. This winter I saw one several times. I got a pole baffle and cover for the stand and haven’t seen one on it since.

A house finch stopped by for a drink.

One morning I saw a young indigo bunting through the bushes.

A few days later I saw two more on the ground feeding in front of our patio. They looked like non-breeding males.

Catbirds, eastern phoebes and pine warblers are all regulars in the winter. The phoebe doesn’t come to the feeders since he only eats bugs or flies. He sits on the white stick (which is the marker that separates the golf course grass from our grass) and hops on and off of it chasing flies.

Standing in the backyard one morning I saw this guy sticking out of our gutters and had to take a picture.

Scratching his face on the tree.

I was bringing in the garbage can and saw this family hanging around the entrance wall to our townhomes so I ran in and got my camera and walked over to them. They gave me a quick glance and then ignored me.

The Hunter’s moon from our driveway.

“Red skies at night…” From the front yard and the backyard.

An afternoon bike ride

On January 27, 2024January 17, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

In late October I went out for a quick bike ride around the neighborhood. We had a few cooler days but it was mostly still in the 80’s in the afternoons. I found a small promise of cooler weather ahead in these few red leaves.

I saw this yellow blooming plant all over the utility field. I looked it up and it’s rattlebox (also known as rattleweed, cat’s bell and showy crotalaria). It’s not a native plant and is invasive. It blooms in the fall here.

The little critters love the flowers.

The seed pods are toxic once they dry out.

This looks like bladderpod (or bagpod) but I didn’t see any orange flowering so I’m not sure. The pods are most likely toxic as well.

An Eastern phoebe was sitting on a bottlebrush tree.

Little critters along my ride.

I only saw this tiny gator on my ride. There are bigger ones here but they must have been hiding.

I saw a red shoulder hawk sitting on a light post near some woods and stopped to get a shot but he took off right as I started to snap. He flew into a tree and I walked over to see if I could find him and realized he was with a friend. It was that time of the year where all of the raptors were mating up. I wondered if this couple nested in this small stretch of woods but it would be hard to find them in there.

The flapping has started

On April 20, 2023April 20, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography10 Comments

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.

Two new birds in the backyard

On January 30, 2023January 22, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

Two new birds in the backyard (although I’ve seen them both before somewhere else). Two brown headed cowbirds stopped by but didn’t stay long. A hermit thrush has become a regular visitor since early December.

An eastern phoebe has stopped by a few times this winter. I caught him taking a bath one morning.

Regular visitors include a black and white warbler, cardinals (who are usually shy and don’t come out in the open but I caught this one on the bath) and bluebirds.

Every few weeks a yellow throated warbler stops by. He usually hunts for bugs in the small palm tree next to our house. I went outside to get these since he was hiding under the palms.

I heard her before I saw her. I heard the pileated woodpecker’s loud scream as she flew into our oak tree. I snapped this quickly through the window before she took off.

I went outside to get this shot. Actually, I went out to try and shoo him away from the window and took my camera out with me. He is not easily scared. I’m glad he hangs out in our corner of the neighborhood but I don’t want him too close to the window where Buddy and Harley stay (in the sunroom).