Whooping it up!

Posted on April 16, 2020 by dinajohnston

I’ve only heard of two whooping cranes in central Florida although they supposedly migrate to an area farther north of Tampa in the winter. I think the ones I went looking for don’t migrate and live here all year. People have seen them in the area most of the year. I had an idea of the area they were in and drove a while down dirt roads lined with cow pastures and orange groves. I was thinking “needle in a haystack” and was ready to go home empty handed when I saw two white spots far away in a cow pasture. Excited, I pulled over and got out and snapped a few shots. Using my 300mm lens with an extender, the above were extremely cropped

Uncropped, they were in a small pond in the middle of a cow pasture.

Taken with my phone, you could really see how far away they were. See those two tiny white dots right in the middle?

There were a lot of other birds out in the pasture that you could only see with a long lens, including several kildeer in the first shot and lots of cattle egrets in the bottom two shots. It was a perfect day to be out, even if it was standing on a dirt road with the smell of cow pasture blowing in my direction.

A walk on the beach at Fort Desoto.

Posted on April 7, 2018 by dinajohnston

A few of the birds on my walk at Fort Desoto in January.

Me and my shadow taking a picture of the dead horseshoe crabs that had washed up at the end of the beach.

Some type of coral? There were several big globs of these on the beach.

In the parking lot at work

Posted on July 6, 2015 by dinajohnston

Last year, an osprey couple built a nest in one of the lights in the parking lot at work. They did not have any babies that year. The nest did not seem well built and people are walking by all day long. This spring they started working on the nest and I didn’t get my hopes up. My doubts were not necessary this year. One night I walked out to my car and saw a little head sticking up. The next night I brought my camera to work and got the above shots.

It gets better. A week later I realized there were two babies.

After a heavy rain had filled the grassy area next to the parking lot, one of the parents flew down and was drinking some of the water. The ducks seemed baffled by their new friend.

Also in the parking lot was a night heron nest. High up in a pine tree, two babies were looking down at me.

One night while I was taking pictures of the osprey, this crow flew past me and landed in a nearby pine tree. I hate to think it but it looks like he has a small duck in his beak. This was the only shot I got before he flew off.

A kildeer was watching me from the side of the parking lot.

Last week the babies were fully grown. They were flying from light pole to light pole but still getting their food from the parents. Soon they will be gone for good. It looks like he’s got some fish guts on the nest.

Since it’s rare these days that I can get to a park after work, it’s nice to have the wildlife come to work.

A walk after work

Posted on May 14, 2015 by dinajohnston

A baby grackle getting his footing.

“Ha, Ha, I got weeds stuck on my beak.”

A kildeer couple at the back pond. This is the first time I’ve seen kildeer here.

Mossy turtle drying off.

Tons of bunnies along the running path.

The bell tower in the middle of an office park.

When I got closer to the bell tower, I realized there was an osprey nest on top of it.

Taking off.

Heading over the lake.

Must be looking for dinner.

I stopped by Carillon Park after work for a walk around the lakes (or just really big ponds). Tons of people jogging and dog walking. I don’t get out before dark much anymore after work so this was a treat to get out.

The eagles are back – Skywatch Friday

Posted on December 4, 2014 by dinajohnston

I think most of the eagles are back in Florida for the winter and the famous couple down at Fort Myers already have eggs. You can see the web came here. I finally saw one of the eagles not too far from my house on the horse farm. He was sitting in a tree across the street from the nest. I didn’t see anyone on the nest but the mate could have been sleeping on it and I just couldn’t see her from the street.

I spotted the peacocks wandering around the neighborhood where the eagle’s nest is located. There are now a ton of them all over the place. They were pretty quiet when I stopped by but I bet they can wake up the whole neighborhood when they start screaming.