Tag: hummingbird

Birds at Lettuce Lake Park

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

Usual birds at Lettuce Lake Park in north Tampa.

A rare bird you only see soaring high in the sky in the summer, two swallow-tail kites were cruising by while I was on top of the observation tower. One looked like he had something in his claws.

It looked like it was part of a duck or maybe a baby bird. These guys snatch baby birds right out of a nest. They eat while they are soaring, mostly dragonflies though.

A cute black bellied whistling duck cruised by as well.

I stopped by the teeny tiny golf ball size hummingbird nest before leaving the park. At first the almost grown baby was sitting alone on the nest. Then mom flew in to feed it.

New Year’s Day “Name that bird”

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Female belted kingfisher (Males do not have the brown stripe across the chest).

Female red bellied woodpecker (Males have full red on his head).

Male common yellowthroat (Female does not have the black mask).

Limpkin

Crazy green heron.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher.

Female ruby throated hummingbird (Males have a bright red stripe across the chin).

A very young white crowned sparrow (a fairly rare one here).

A young red shoulder hawk (very common around here).

All taken on a recent visit to Circle B Bar Reserve.

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More of the same

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

A red shoulder hawk greets me as I walk on the trail. Right after I shot the hawk, an eagle flies high over my head.

A snowy egret skimming along the marsh and a great blue heron posing.

I think this is a female indigo bunting. I had heard there were buntings in this part of the trail but I didn’t see any male blue ones.  Any confirmation?

One of the many sparrows that hangs out at the intersection of Heron Hideout trail and Eagles Roost trail. Not sure if it’s a Savannah or Swamp,

This little lady flew right in front of me and landed on the tiny stick. She sat there forever.

More black bellied whistling ducks in the marsh.

Same ole gators along the trail.

From my early November visit to Circle B Bar Reserve.

Linking to Wednesday Around the World

A very quick spring migration

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The mangroves along the road at Fort Desoto Park were full of female indigo buntings. They were the most accommodating birds.  All of the others were staying hidden.

There were yellow warblers all over the park.

We had one lone bay breasted warbler in the mangroves.

A single black throated green warbler kept us entertained for a while.

I’m not sure if this is a eastern kingbird or an eastern wood-pewee.

The ruby throated  hummingbirds were out this morning. There were several females hanging out at the firebush.

We only had a small sprinkle of birds stopping over on their way north for the summer in April. On the first Friday in May we had a big storm come through the area. On Saturday morning I got up early and headed down to Fort Desoto to see if any birds had landed to take a break before heading north. The park was full of little birds. Most were hiding but I managed to get a few shots of them deep in the bushes. There were a lot of barn swallows flying around but after torturing myself for a few minutes trying to get pictures I gave up.

Fun at Fort Desoto in April

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography15 Comments

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Black and white warblers don’t sit still for a minute. They like to hang upside down on the tree and usually stay close to the trunk.

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The one Ruby throated hummingbird I’ve seen so far this spring.

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I think this is a female black and white warbler. The black is not as pronounced in the female as the male.

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Another white eyed vireo. The most common bird at the park this spring.

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Birds of a feather….

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I caught Jim chimping. Making sure he got a good shot of that pigeon.

The park was packed in early April with birders coming to see the birds that had flown in for spring migration. It was nice of them all to stop over for a rest so we could all spend a full Saturday morning waiting for them to stand still for a second. It’s always fun running into people you see once a year and catch up with what’s been going on in the bird world.

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A tale of two lakes

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

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I caught this squirrel eating right next to the hummingbird feeder.

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The only decent shot I got. I forgot to bring my tripod and even though I had my monopod, the light was awful. The feeder was in the shade so I wasn’t able to get a good picture of the hummer hovering over the feeder.

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Bug on a ball. Lettuce Lake Park in north Tampa was quiet on a Saturday morning in late June. So I did what any respectable birder would do. I left and went somewhere else.

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Twin Lakes is not a park. Just a lake at the entrance to a subdivision in what I call is the boonies. This subdivision should win a prize for one of the top birding neighborhood spots in Tampa. Constant traffic, dog walkers and joggers going around this little lake. The first thing I spotted was a baby moorhen.

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A mom and younger baby was close by.

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The baby was getting a bite from Mom. It’s funny to see his little wings go so fast when he was getting his food.

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The above juvenile grackle was chasing after his parent for food.

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I had heard there were baby purple gallinules at the lake. I first saw the adults coming out of the leaves right in the middle of the pond.

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Then I saw three tiny black dots. These are highly cropped taken with my 300mm lens.

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The parents stayed close to the babies.

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Walking around, the parent must have been looking for food.

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The baby is so tiny. He could only be a few days old. There must have been another family with older babies because I had read about them over a week earlier.

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I don’t know what that was she had in her mouth but it didn’t look like food.

Not too bad for a walk around two different parks. Even though it’s summer and hot and not many birds around, there’s still a lot to see out there.

Camera Critters

A few more from spring migration

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography31 Comments

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I was told this is a Tennessee Warbler. It looks like it from my Stokes Birding Guide.

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If so, it’s a lifer for me.

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White eyed vireo singing in the morning.

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He was chirping away.

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This was my last indigo bunting sighting of the season. These were taken in mid-April.

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I saw this guy for a flash of a second so this was all I got. It was the only time I saw a hummingbird at the feeder during all of those trips to the park this spring.

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Swallowtail on the flowers.

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This guy was jumping around while we were trying to take pictures of the bunting.

This has been a long drawn out migration season. Last spring there were tons of birds in two weekends and then nothing.  This spring it’s been a small handful of birds each weekend starting at the end of March and fizzling out near the end of April. I saw a few new birds this spring and met a ton of new people. It’s amazing the bird traffic at Fort Desoto. People come from all over the country during April for a “bird vacation”. Most of the travelers I spoke with were hitting parks all around Florida. At least at Fort Desoto, when you walk out of the woods, you’re on the beach and your “bird vacation” can become a few hours of a “beach vacation”.

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More from the candy store – spring migration

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography16 Comments

My first magnolia warbler.

Female orchard oriole. I had seen these earlier in the week.

My first hummingbird shot.  When I was growing up we had a feeder in the backyard in front of the dining room window. I used to see them and think they were neat. It never occurred to me back then to take a picture of it.

It was amazing watching them hover. I wished the light had been better. We were in the woods and the sun had gone down behind the trees. There was a little light but it wasn’t consistent. I’m going to keep my eyes out for these little guys on my next trip.

Hummingbird resting on a tiny branch. He must be tired.

A few more pictures from my early night at Fort Desoto during the week of fall out in late April.  I could finally call my hubby and say “I’m gonna be home late. We got fall out!” (Yes, we saw The Big Year).  Ron at Pinellasbirds.com said this was a record migration through the area in a given week. I only saw a spit of what was out there.

One thing I’ve learned is that it’s really hard to get decent shots of these little guys. It’s a lot  harder than a shorebird sleeping on the beach or an eagle sitting on a nest. They are usually high up in the trees or deep inside them. There’s always leaves and branches to deal with. The light is harder in the woods with shadows. They are a lot more skittish than bigger birds. You have to sit quietly and wait for them to come down which is hard to do when there’s a steady stream of people walking by. Any news of birds and the woods are full of people. Most are quiet and stay back but you get at least one loud person getting too close to the feeder or fountain.  Especially with the hummingbird feeders. We kept telling people to stay far back and they will come down and feed. People kept getting too close trying to take pictures with their camera phone.

Anyway, the whole experience and two short visits to Fort Desoto were a lot of fun.  I met a lot of great birders who were helpful with id’s.

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