Transporting in late August into September

On December 14, 2024January 21, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

It was a busy summer transporting injured birds around to the different rehabbers in the Tampa bay area. In late August this barred owl made the trip from the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay to Moccasin Lake Park Raptor Sanctuary along with a screech owl. Both had injured eyes and were going to see a vet nearby that specializes in injured eyes.

While I was at Moccasin Lake Park I stopped in to see some of the resident and rehabbing birds in the hospital. There were several kestrels there and a few had missing eyes.

This peregrine falcon also had an injured eye and was waiting to see a vet. I don’t see these guys often out in the wild.

A few days later the same barred owl along with another one made the trip back to the Raptor Center. Both will eventually be released. The injured eye should heal.

Also in my car that day was a great horned owl that had his injured wing reset by the vet. Once his wing heals he will be released.

In early September I had 3 red shoulder hawks in my car on their way from the Raptor Center to Penny, the rehabber in south St. Pete. They had all been injured and rehabbed and Penny was going to release them. I only got a shot of one since they were boxed up and I wasn’t about to open those boxes with healed hawks in them.

A box of baby squirrels also made the trip.

The next day I got a call asking to transport an injured crested caracara. I’ve only seen these guys a few times out in the wild and I was happy I could do this transport but sad that it was injured. He was found in central Florida. They rarely venture near the Tampa bay area and can be found along cow pastures in central Florida. They are a type of falcon although they act like vultures eating mostly roadkill but will also eat live small animals.

Leaving the Raptor Center with the caracara I had to stop and roll down my window and take a few shots with my phone of a sandhill crane family that was down the street.

The lost baby squirrels never end. This still hairless guy made the trip to Penny and he had a baby dove with him.

A young possum and an older baby squirrel also made the trip.

By mid-September I had another carload heading to a rehabber. A barred owl and a huge red tail hawk are pictured. I also had 2 red shoulder hawks.

And a tshirt full of baby squirrels that had just been dropped off at the Raptor Center while I was picking up the birds.

A few days later 3 boxes of baby squirrels made the trip to Penny, the squirrel expert, in south St, Pete. It was close to the end of baby squirrel season and hopefully these were the last lost ones.

Babies and sunset

On April 18, 2024May 12, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography9 Comments

Almost 2 weeks after my first trip down to Fort Desoto to see the baby great horned owls I was back at the park. It wasn’t as cold and windy this trip. The babies should be much bigger and I thought I would be able to see them quickly but I didn’t at first.

Mom leaned over and out popped one of the babies from under her wing. The babies at this age are pretty funny looking, almost like an alien.

Baby was looking up at Mom as she was preening.

I walked around to the side to see the baby better but I was shooting straight into the sun. And, I was standing in the woods and getting eaten alive by no-seeums (they are worse than mosquitos. They don’t seem to be bothered by bug spray).

A little farther over and I could see the younger baby. It was late in the day and after waiting around forever to see if they would be fed I gave up and decided to go over to the beach for the sunset.

I drove over to the gulf pier area just as the sun was going down below the trees.

I had not been here in a long time for the entire sunset and it was beautiful out.

I did not get back down to the park before the babies grew up and fledged. I heard there were huge crowds at the nest so I skipped it this year. It was nice to here the babies did well though and left.

Too precious to lose

On March 8, 2022March 7, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

The beautiful baby owls at a nearby park. These were all taken in early February. There were 3 babies but at this point there wasn’t a time when they were all together. The youngest still stayed in the nest while the older 2 were starting to venture out on the nearby branches.

These were all taken in mid-February. They were really cruising around the tree.

This was the youngest of the three. He was still staying close to the nest at this point. He still had a lot of fuzzy feathers that didn’t quite have the color in them.

The parents would always be close by in the same tree or a few trees over.

It’s with a super heavy heart that I post this but I wanted you to see how precious these babies are. The oldest baby died earlier this week. He had rat poisoning symptoms and did not survive. Last year we lost 2 of the 3 babies to rat poisoning. Then, just yesterday the Mom was sick and was rescued but did not survive. Again, rat poisoning. Everyone has got to stop using rat poison. These owls eat the rats. You don’t need the poison. Now that’s 2 less owls that will be keeping the rats in check.

Triplets for the Class of 2022.

On March 5, 2022February 23, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I was keeping an eye on the nearby local owl’s nest in mid-January. I’d stop by when I was out running errands. It was usually easy to spot one of the parents high up in the tree. Mom was always on the nest.

Near the end of January I could see a fuzzy white head on the nest. This was the youngest of three, still looking like an ugly duckling.

One of the other siblings were sitting up and looked much bigger. At this point we thought there might only be 2 babies.

A week later it was confirmed there were 3 babies. All of the babies were still sitting right in the nest so it was hard to see them clearly through all of the moss. More to come on these cuties growing up.

Please don’t use rat poison

On May 22, 2021April 20, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

“What is everone looking at? Wait, I see a rat in the parking lot. Tell Mom to go get it.”

“I am Dracula. I suck the blood of rats”

“Soon I’ll be flying and can go get my own rat.”

“She’s taking my picture. I need to move over here to the best spot.”

Right before dark all three of the babies lined up and I got a shot of them all together. Both parents had just flown away, assuming to go get dinner. Since they are so curious, they were always looking everywhere. It was so amazing seeing these guys growing up. It really is a privilage to have these owls growing up in such a populated area. I didn’t make it back to the nest after this to see them all grown up. Unfortunately no one got to see 2 of them grow up. I just recently found out that 2 of them died from rat poison. The third one survived. Maybe he didn’t get to eat as much of that poisoned rat that the parent brought back. This is what happens when people use rat poison boxes. The rats don’t die right away and the owl grabs it to bring back to the nest. These owls are a natural pest control and the three young ones would have cleaned out most of the area of rats for a while when they first start to hunt.

The owls at Fort Desoto

On May 6, 2021April 19, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Mom standing watch over her babies.

Meanwhile, the babies are acting cute with those curious eyes. Always looking around at the sounds and birds flying by.

Mom moved over to a tree nearby for a while.

Then back to the nest to sit for while before feeding the kids. You could see both sides of the nest since it sits between a trail through the woods and the beach. We were running back and forth trying to get the best shots while the sun was going in and out. I think this is when I got my poison ivy on my ankles. Not paying attention and running around in the small wooded area where the owls nest. One ankle was pretty bad and my foot was so swollen I couldn’t get a shoe on for almost two weeks. That’ll teach me. After 13 years of doing this I’ve been pretty lucky with not getting it before now. Of course now I’m checking everywhere I step or walk.

The baby should have been excited since he was about to be fed but instead he was yawning. Mom was digging around on the nest for something good she had hidden in there. More to come on what that was.

Owls and inchworms

On April 18, 2020April 18, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

I got to the park right before dark and saw Papa owl flying over to a tall tree along the water. He hung out there for a while, preening and stretching. I guess he had just gotten up from a long afternoon nap. Soon he would be taking off to go get dinner for the nest.

Mom stayed on the tree near the nest. The baby was big enough at this point to sit alone on the nest but Mom always stays close by.

There seemed to be an inchworm infestation at the park. They were dripping from the trees. We were walking around the shelters near the trees and realized that we were covered in them. Although they are harmless it was a little creepy having them in my hair and on my shirt. We were pulling them off each other and then learned to walk around the trees and to keep an eye out for them. This was in February back when we could stand close together.

Linking to Saturday’s Critters.

The Safety Harbor owls were growing up.

On May 21, 2019May 21, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

A rare time seeing both parents sitting together high up in a tree while the babies sit below alone in the nest. Although, at this point the babies are big enough to stay by themselves as long as a parent is close by. We usually only see one parent at a time.

After a while, Mom woke up and flew down to the nest.

She only stayed for a few minutes and then took off across the park while Dad continued to nap high above.

The babies were awake and were very curious looking around at all of the joggers and dog walkers going by.

Then this one sits up, stretches and yawns and then plops down for a nap. Time for me to go home and have lunch

Photographing New Zealand

Watching owls grow up.

On April 20, 2019March 29, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photographyLeave a comment

The young great horned owls are very curious at this age. They were making faces at other birds that would fly by the nest.

Mom flew in for a few minutes and then took off.

They started yawning and looked like they were settling in for a long nap.

The view of the nest taken with my phone where we were standing. The nest sits right on a main trail and is very visible when people are walking along the beach.