Tag: northern pintail

Looking for a distinguished gentleman

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

All of the usual winter ducks were still at Lake Belleview in Clearwater when I got to the lake in late March. It’s a small lake in the middle of a busy section of Clearwater. I don’t get here often and I’m always amazed at the variety of birds and ducks that hang out here in the winter. Out in the middle of the lake I could see redheads and coots swimming together. I was looking for the rare northern pintail duck that has been spotted here for a few weeks now.

As I walked around the lake I found a few redheads sleeping along the bank and on the water all under a big shade tree (the female is all brown, only the male has the red head).

I was watching the redhead floating around when I noticed the pintail swimming by so I found him pretty quickly.

I’ve only seen a pintail once, in late 2014, in St. Pete. He’s a beautiful duck and looks very distinguished. They breed in the most northern part of the US and mostly in Canada. They do migrate south for the winter into Florida but this is only the 2nd time I’ve heard of one being in our area. He stayed under the shade of the big tree the entire time I was there.

The usual moorhens were also there.

A few flybys included a great blue heron and a great egret.

One last snap before heading home. He was still hanging around at the end of May so I’m hoping he is okay.

Saturday's Critters

Quiet time with spoonies.

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

I walked into the big aviary at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park and the spoonbills were lined up along the railing. They didn’t move at all when I walked in. I had to stand in the doorway to get them across the boardwalk with my 300mm lens. They are beautiful birds, like pink cotton candy. The colors and details in their faces are amazing. They seem to be just waking up from their morning nap when I had walked in, stretching and preening.

The two above were taken with my phone.

The northern pintail taking a nap on the boardwalk didn’t move when I walked past him. I enjoyed a few minutes of quiet time with the spoonies before a big family came in the aviary. At that point, the spoonies and pintail knew it was time to leave the boardwalk and head to the bushes and water in the aviary.

Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City

On By dinajohnstonIn zoo animals3 Comments

So many cool birds at the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City. Our hotel was close by so we stopped by for a quick walk around to see the birds before checking into our hotel. We had fun seeing all of the different ducks and birds including the golden eagle in the bottom picture. We don’t have goldens in Florida so it was a chance to see one up close. Many of the birds are permanently injured and live here now including the bald eagle. All of the animals looked well fed, clean and happy.

A wild white pigeon was looking for a handout.

The squirrel was stealing the duck food in the open pond.

We had an hour to kill before we could check into our hotel so we spent it walking around outside at the aviary.

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

My first pintail

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

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I had read there was a Northern pintail floating around a small pond near my office. I had to wait until the weekend to get there since I was working late that week. The pond sits in front of a church. I pulled in and thought “I’ll need to walk around the pond and still probably not find it.” Sometimes you get lucky. I walked a few feet from my car and there was the pintail. There were two of them there. They were dubbed Mary and Joseph at first but then the female was thought to be a juvenile male so it was a male and his son? One of them stayed hiding under a tree and the other one started floating around the pond and showing off. I snapped a few shots and left but not before shooting the usual “Take my picture too” mallard that came by.