Baby blue is growing up – Skywatch Friday

On March 7, 2013February 27, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography14 Comments

I walked down the trail and see this up ahead. Mom and baby blue staring off into space. At this point, the baby looks just like the parents.

He’s still got those baby fuzz feathers on his head.

His beak is as big as the parent’s. He’s begging to be fed.

Staring down from high up above.

The baby really wants to be fed. He kept grabbing Mom’s beak. Mom’s thinking “Your dad better hurry home with that fish.”

Doing a little house cleaning. Baby was copying whatever Mom was doing.

I think the baby was 8-9 weeks old at this point. Several weeks after I took these I saw a video of him flapping his wings pretty hard. By now he’s probably flying off. I’m not sure how long they hang around the nest continuing to be fed. It was great seeing this big baby grow up after no baby last year. Right across the trail from this nest is a barred owl nest so I’ll be heading back to this same spot a whole lot more.

My first great blue heron nest

On February 27, 2013February 13, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography10 Comments

In the early morning light, I stopped by the great blue heron nest at Circle B Bar Reserve. The parent was standing up but no sign of babies. They must have still been sleeping.

I stopped by the nest again later on my way out of the reserve and the parent was flapping his wings over something.

Then I saw a little head pop up looking over the nest.

The parent was busy preening while baby looked around.

The baby looked just like the parent. Only smaller.

I think it was ready to be feed. It started begging.

This is my first great blue heron baby. The couple sat on the nest last year and did not have babies so I was pretty excited this year that they had success. There were two babies seen at the nest early on but now there is only one left. Not sure what happened to the other one. Did it fall out of the nest? Was it stolen from another bird? The nest area is plagued with hawks, crows, eagles and vultures. Mom chased off an osprey trying to eat his fish a few branches above the nest. My fingers are crossed this one makes it to adulthood. The nest is out in the marsh and high up so these shots are extremely cropped.

Injured birds around the fishing pier – Skywatch Friday

On February 21, 2013February 21, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography18 Comments

Hubby and I stopped by the Sunshine Skyway fishing pier to look for the rare kittiwake that had been sighted there earlier that week. We looked, along with several other birders, for over an hour with no luck. I did get a lot of “birds in flight” practice that morning.

I realized after I cropped this up that the royal tern had a hook in his beak. This was a common sight around the pier.

I saw another royal tern on the other side of the pier with a hook pulling on his skin. He was trying to swallow a big fish. He got the fish down but not without doing more damage to the beak area. I’m not sure how someone would be able to catch this one. He was flying pretty good and stayed on the other side of the pier that you can’t get to.

Another royal tern with a fish.

He flew right over my head. No hooks here.

This common loon has a hook in it’s beak.

This loon was showing off. This has been a banner winter for loons in the Tampa bay area. We only get them in the winter here around Tampa and last winter I only saw 2.

Back down for another fish.

Ruddy turnstone posing on an oyster bed.

A view of the Sunshine Skyway bridge from the rest stop. The bridge takes you from St. Petersburg over the bay to Sarasota and south Florida. This new bridge opened in 1985 after a freighter crashed into the old one doing enough damage to close it down back in 1980. Part of the old bridge is still used as a fishing pier.

The couple of times that I’ve been out on the fishing pier, it has been packed with people fishing. The birds, including gulls, terns and pelicans, hang out here to fish as well. They also like to steal the bait fish from the fisherman. The biggest problem is that the birds will go after a fish that is already on a hook and the birds get hooked too. There are educational boards all over the fishing pier with instructions on how to reel in a hooked bird and take the hook out. It is clear to never cut the line. The bird will die with a hook and fishing line trailing behind it. After spending time on the pier, you will get the impression that most people don’t care and will just cut the line. I say most because there are a few people out there with a soul and will help release the bird the right way. With the amount of birds flying around with hooks, most just cut the line. The local bird rescue and rehab company has been having financial problems and has stopped taking in injured birds. A new group of volunteers are working on starting up a new rescue group. With all of the birders out on this pier recently looking for the kittiwake, there’s been a growing concern on how to help out at the pier.

There’s so much more to this story. I’ll save that for a later date. I still stand behind my thought “No fishing should be allowed on fishing piers.” Like that would ever happen in Florida.

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My first yellow-headed blackbird and some boring other birds

On February 17, 2013February 17, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography11 Comments

A horrible picture of my first sighting of a yellow-headed blackbird. Birders had been posting about seeing this fairly rare bird here in a neighbor almost an hour from my house for a few weeks. He had only been sighted late in the day so I finally headed out there on a recent Sunday afternoon while hubby was watching football. I looked around for an hour and didn’t see him so I left and ran over to Medard Park which is close by for a quick walk over the boardwalk. I headed back to the pond to look for the rare bird again and after looking for almost 2 hours, he showed up right before dark. And, he was right in the middle of a pond so this is extremely cropped.

On my way into Medard Park, I see a few vultures eating an armadillo.

I think this is a caspian tern, just coming out of the water.

This anhinga was catching bait fish right below the boardwalk. Since I had my fixed lens I couldn’t zoom in and this was all I got of her. The fish looks nice and tasty!

Due to the overabundance of apple snails, the park is full of limpkins.

Great blue heron shaking off some water.

This alligator was laying in the pond in the neighborhood where I saw the yellow-headed blackbird. How’d you like to walk your dog around that thing? Yes, people were out walking their dogs around the pond while I was there.

So this is what I do when Hubby is watching football (or playing golf). Drive around town looking for birds. It was too nice an afternoon to be indoors doing chores (which is what I should have been doing). The chores usually wait until a weeknight after work when it’s dark anyway.

LorikArt

Love is in the air – Skywatch Friday

On February 14, 2013February 6, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography19 Comments

Caution – Spoony porn below. Excessive pinkness going on. Proceed at your own risk!

I stop at the alligator exhibit and see two spoonbills sitting together in the short palm trees. I don’t think anything of it but hope that a future nest would be great. I didn’t want to get too excited. Two years ago a couple nested here but last year they did not. I walked around the area for a few minutes and then was about to head back to the see the baby elephant when the below started to happen.

Is it???? Yes, it is!!! Spoonbills mating. I started snapping away. No one else noticed. They were all too busy looking at the sleeping alligators below.

Yes, I know, I’m intruding on their bedroom. But they were doing in right in the middle of the zoo. They could have found some nice quiet woods anywhere else.

It was over in a flash. Or at least 20 snaps.

You’re thinking “It’s over. He’s outta there.”

He flew down to the ground close by and picked up a stick. Not just any ole stick. This was his third stick he picked up. He was finding just the right one.

He flew into the tree with his stick.

And flew over to her and presented her with the stick. If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is. No diamonds, no candy. Just a stick.

She’s like “Gimmi the stick all ready.”

He gives here the stick.

She takes it and puts in the crook of the palm tree. After this they settled down and looked like they were ready for a nap.

Sometimes timing is everything. I had about two hours to kill two Sunday mornings ago so I headed to the Lowry Park zoo which is close by to see the baby elephant again. When I first got there the baby elephant was way in the back of the exhibit playing behind a bunch of logs. I decided to do a quick lap of the zoo and see if any wild birds were hanging around the alligator exhibit yet. Wild egrets and herons nest there in the spring. They build nests in the big oak and palm trees around the exhibit. There were already a lot of great egrets sitting on nests high up in the oak trees. I saw the two spoonbills sitting together on a short palm tree and thought “Wouldn’t it be great if they nested here again like they did two years ago.” I was just about to walk away to head back to the elephants when I saw the flash of pink flying.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Black neck stilt with his reflection

On May 26, 2012May 26, 2012 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography11 Comments

These were taken a few weeks ago at Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. The black necked stilts usually stay far away from the trails. In the past, I have only seen them way out across the marsh. For some reason on this morning, one of them was feeding very close to the trail. Right in front of the main intersection. He stayed busy not paying attention to the long line of photographers taking pictures of him. He kept getting closer and closer. I was glad it was a nice clear morning and not a ripple on the water.

Camera Critters

Baby limpkins

On May 19, 2012May 19, 2012 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

On my after work walk around Kapok Park, I saw an adult limpkin down at the end of the creek. At first I thought “I don’t feel like walking down there to get another picture of a limpkin.” It was just starting to get dark and time was running out quick. But, I noticed he was eating. So I headed down there and guess what I saw?

A baby limpkin hiding in the grass.

Not just one but four babies. All hiding in the grass. They looked to be just a couple of days old.

One of the parents stayed close to them and kept pulling the tall grass around them. I sat down for a few minutes and watched her. She seemed to be making a makeshift nest for the night. Finally, she plopped down on top of them and looked like she was going to stay there for the night.

Camera Critters

Cedar Waxwings – Skywatch Friday

On May 17, 2012May 4, 2012 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography17 Comments

I had heard there were cedar waxwings flying around Fort Desoto. I have only seen them once in Atlanta. It was Christmas eve of 2010. I went for a walk in my in-laws neighborhood and it was lightly snowing. I saw them and ran back to the house to get my camera. I had not seen any since. I was thinking that it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack to find them at Fort Desoto so I didn’t get my hopes up. I wasn’t there five minutes and saw this big flock land in a tree right in front of me. I couldn’t believe it was them. They stayed for a few minutes, then all took off flying away. When I headed over to the mulberry bush woods, there they were. Sitting on top of the big mulberry bushes at the front of the trail. They really are cool looking birds. I saw them several times that day and again during the height of the spring migration week.

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More from the candy store – spring migration

On May 14, 2012May 15, 2012 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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Like a kid in a candy store – spring migration.

On May 13, 2012January 1, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

My first rose breasted grosbeak.

Not my first black and white warbler. I have seen a couple in that past but there were quite a few flying around at Fort Desoto.

My first scarlet tanager. There was a few there but they stayed high up in the trees.

My first Baltimore oriole.

My first eastern wood-pewee. At first I thought this was a phoebe but the bill is a little lighter.

I thought I had missed the boat. Saturday, 4/21, a nasty storm moves through the Tampa bay area. I did chores and ran errands. Sunday morning I woke up to sunny skies so I headed out to a park. I thought that since there were extremely high winds at Fort Desoto, it might not be a good place to go since water birds tend to be scarce on windy days. I decided to go inland to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. It was a nice morning and I saw some cool things. Later that night I was reading Pinellasbirds.com and just found out how little I knew about birding. The sky was falling with birds at Fort Desoto. Record numbers of migrating birds had landed there. I knew I had a long work week ahead so my heart fell. But all was not lost. I was able to leave work at a reasonable time on Tuesday night and headed straight for Fort Desoto. I headed first to the east beach turnaround and then to the mulberry bush woods at the ranger’s house. There were birds flying everywhere. All colors flashing by. I was so excited I didn’t know where to start. I just stood there and started snapping away. I stayed until the sun went completely down and it was dark driving out. More to come tomorrow.