The backyard in early May

On July 24, 2023April 5, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography9 Comments

My neighbor’s plumeria plant was blooming in early May. I was able to snap the above before the squirrels ate them.

The young Carolina wrens were looking for food in the bushes. Mom was still feeding them bugs. The young ones are as big as Mom but they still have a lot of yellow around their beaks.

I hadn’t been seeing many bluebirds in the backyard (I think they have been nesting). I saw this young one sitting on our feeder and then others started showing up again.

The first week in May was the last time I saw a parula. They must all be north for the summer (I don’t blame them although this year it may be just as hot up there).

By early May I was getting hummingbirds every day at the feeder. The male only showed up the first few days and now I only see females.

The squirrels were still getting frisky.

By now the only birds coming to the suet were woodpeckers and blue jays. Once this one was gone I took the basket down for the summer.

A butterfly on the lantana basket.

The sunset shining through the moss across the street.

Color in the bushes

On July 17, 2023April 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography10 Comments

It was a perfect morning to be at Fort Desoto Park. I had not been down to the park since early February and that was a quick trip to the pier to look for the Pacific loon. It was time for spring migration and I heard some birds had stopped by the park on their way north for the summer.

A quick sunrise stop at the East Beach turnaround is a must. I snapped these with my phone before heading to woods to look for some birds.

My foot was still bothering me in late April but I was determined to see some colorful birds. It’s a short walk from the parking lot to the mangrove bushes and trees behind the ranger’s house. I first saw both a female and male rose breasted grosbeak. They were both up high in the fig tree feasting on the tiny berries.

Baltimore orioles were abundant. It was easy to spot that bright orange bird.

I also found several Orchard orioles including a female (in yellow) and males (in brown). These guys were feeding on the mangroves along the road through the park. Everyone was pulling their car off the road and standing or sitting (me) on the ground watching the birds bounce around the huge mangrove bushes.

I only saw one blue grosbeak this spring migration season and he was hiding.

Of course northern parulas are easy to find.

There were several scarlet tanagers feeding in the fig tree by the flag pole.

This Cape May was posing for me.

There were a lot of indigo buntings this morning. I took a ton of pictures of them but it was hard not to say “Oh yeah, I see those in my backyard”.

It was a fun morning and felt good to be out with my fellow birders. There’s always a big crowd during spring migration here, even on the weekdays if there’s good fall out. That’s okay because there were more eyes to help look for things. I still didn’t find the Nashville warbler which would have been a first for me but my foot gave out after 2 hours so I headed home. I was back 2 days later though. More on that to come.

Little critters in early spring

On April 29, 2023April 29, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was early March and I was sitting on a bench in the butterfly garden at Folly Farms in Safety Harbor hoping to see hummingbirds (it was probably a little early for them though). No hummingbirds yet but I did see some usual birds. Titmouse are common here and parulas were everywhere in early spring. Both have distinct calls.

The giant milkweed was full of caterpillars.

Little critters in the garden. The yellow butterfly looks like she was laying eggs.

I’m not sure what this plant is but I’ve seen it at several botanical gardens. It’s really cool and the flowering part is huge.

Rainbow birds in the bushes

On April 22, 2023April 22, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Spring had long sprung at the beginning of March. I wanted to get out of the house before it got too hot so I took a road trip over to central Florida to visit Bok Tower Gardens. They have scooters that you can rent for a pretty low price to scoot around the trails and since my foot was still hurting I decided this was a good way to get outside.

At first I didn’t see many birds, only a black and white warbler and a northern parula.

Later in the morning I scooted over to the corner where the bird feeder was and sat very quiet waiting for the above. The painted buntings were here last year at this time so I was hoping to see them again. This time there were 2 males. They were skittish and anytime someone would walk by on the trail they would scatter to the bushes.

If I sat quietly for a while they would slowly come back to the feeder. It was early enough that there wasn’t too much foot traffic yet. The two couples stayed for a while.

This squirrel was posing too cute for me not to take a picture.

Around the house

On September 12, 2022September 4, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

We had stacked up the outside chairs next to the hanging plant when we were having the house painted and the squirrel found it really easy to sit there and eat the plant. Half of the purslane plant had been eaten before I realized what was going on and caught him red handed.

This guy visits the backyard occasionally. I call him Notch.

I hadn’t seen a northern parula in a couple of months and then this guy showed up in early August. I was able to get a shot through the window right after it stopped raining.

This young cardinal had caught a lizard.

We had a lot of Carolina wrens in the backyard in early spring when they were nesting and then they disappeared. Then in early August we had a few show up again.

I was out riding my bike with my camera and saw this guy crossing the street. I was able to get a few shots of him with this huge meal before he took off down the creek so I don’t know if he ate it. I would have never thought there were fish that big in the small pond nearby.

Front yard skies in early August.

Lots of critters at Fort Desoto

On July 2, 2022June 20, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals2 Comments

Another trip to Fort Desoto Park to look for migrating birds. The first thing I found was a squirrel being cute on the agave plant. I was hoping there would be birds on those plants but no, I find a squirrel.

Cape May warblers were still around. I found both females and males.

I also found a northern parula and a blackpoll warbler (I hadn’t seen one of those in several years).

An osprey was checking me out making sure I wasn’t going to steal his fish.

Cormorants were diving for fish around the fishing pier.

It was a slow dolphin morning but I did manage to find one.

The starlings and nanday parakeets were fighting over wire space in the parking lot.

Things in the backyard

On April 16, 2022April 4, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

Some of the birds in the yard in late January and early February. I’m always looking out the window when I’m at home. I noticed the great egret creeping around the tree but he went behind the bushes when he caught the lizard.

I’ve seen several random turkeys roaming around the neighbhorhood and was wondering if they were all the same turkey. These were across the fairway from our house. The top one had a gray head (maybe the juvenile from this past summer) and the bottom shot has a red head. These were taken the same week.

The usual bigger birds in the backyard include a cardinal, blue jay and a crow that’s been hanging around for a few weeks.

There’s always a Carolina wren in the backyard. Sometimes we have two.

Other occasional birds at the feeder are titmouse and woodpeckers.

We had several bluebirds bouncing around the backyard one afternoon. They would catch some caterpillars on the ground and fly up to the top of the bird feeder to eat them.

We’ve had parulas up in our trees for a while now. I hear their shrill all day long. I was able to catch the male (top shot) in a lower branch singing away one afternoon. The bottom shot is either a juvenile or maybe the female. She came down to the bird bath.

A few other things in the yard. That spider looks like he has a smiley face on his back. The gardenia bush outside our front door has been blooming and it smells so nice when you walk out the door. I went out and got these with my macro lens. All other pictures where taken through the windows.

In the trees and on the ground.

On June 14, 2018June 12, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

In the trees. Grackles, great egret, black and white warblers and northern parulas.

On the ground, an ibis was eating a snack.

A beautiful morning at Lettuce Lake park.

SkyWatch Friday

Summer at the lake

On September 11, 2017September 12, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Lots of the usual birds at Lettuce Lake Park in late July. The first shot is a very young parula and the 2nd is a shot of the young parula being fed by the parent. The last shot is of a very young red bellied woodpecker waiting for the parent to give him a bug.