Tag: peacock

Critter rescues this fall

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals8 Comments

My car was full in mid-September when I drove some lost critters from the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay to Penny, a rehabber, in south St. Pete. Baby squirrel season was in full swing and I had 2 boxes of lost babies as well as 2 hawks and a baby dove.

A few days later more baby squirrels made the trip to Penny. This time I had 2 baby flying squirrels in the car. They were so tiny and much smaller than regular squirrels. They can’t actually fly around like birds and bats but are able to glide from tree to tree with those tiny “wings” on their sides. They are nocturnal so they are hard to spot. I’ve heard they are in the area but I’ve never seen one in the wild until this day.

A few “regular” baby squirrels also made the trip.

Penny rehabs all kinds of critters and lives in south St. Pete. Her neighborhood had a few free roaming peacocks and this one was able to walk in front of my car so I stopped and snapped the above as she crossed the street. She’s pretty with a mix of white and blue.

At the beginning of October a young red shoulder hawk had just come back from a visit to the vet for an injured eye and was making the trip back to the Raptor Center to finish his rehabilitation.

Look at that face! This great horned owl had been rescued and was well enough to be released so I was driving him to the Raptor Center from a Barbara, the rehabber near my home. He will go into the big flight cage at the center to build back up his strength.

A turkey vulture and another great horned owl also made the trip.

A few weeks later I stopped at an emergency vet to pick up a baby squirrel that had been brought in that was found in someone’s yard. Then I drove it to the Raptor Center.

He joined another big box of lost squirrels and I drove them all to Penny.

An injured crow also made the trip.

In early December I picked up a caracara from the Raptor Center that had an injured wing and leg. We don’t see caracaras near my home and this one was brought in from central Florida. I took him to Barbara, the rehabber, who was taking him to the vet the next morning to have him looked and at possibly reset the wing and leg. This was the 2nd caracara I had as a passenger in the year and half of driving injured critters. He looks like a prettier vulture and acts like a vulture (mostly eating roadkill) but he’s actually a type of falcon.

Driving around in June and July

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

The first week in June I had a red shoulder hawk in my car. This beauty had been sick and was rescued and rehabilitated at Moccasin Lake Park and was going back to the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay to stay in the flight cage for a few days to build up his wing strength before being released.

Three days later a baby Cooper’s hawk and a sick red tail hawk also made their way to the Raptor Center. Look at those big talons on the red tail hawk!

The next week I had a full car load. I picked up a sick vulture that had been rescued north of where I live and then headed to the Raptor Center to pick up more critters.

A pair of baby doves, a sick blue jay and a young pileated woodpecker all got loaded in my car to make their way to Penny, the rehabber in south St. Pete.

A pouch of juvenile possums also came along.

A few days later a juvenile swallow tail kite was rescued close to my house so I picked it up and drove it over to the Raptor Center. The brown specks on his head and white specks on his wings will go away when he is fully grown. He was also not old enough to have his “swallow” split tail.

I got a call that there was a kestrel with an injured wing on the ground at the Tampa airport. The airport maintenance guys were able to catch it and called the Raptor Center. I was able to meet them at the cell phone parking lot and drive it to the center.  Nancy thinks the wing will be able to heal.

At the end of June I was transporting a hawk, a barred owl and 4 screech owls that had been to a vet and was going back to the Raptor Center. They were having a fundraiser near my house so I met them there at the end of the event to hand off the injured birds. They had brought their ambassador kestrel and great horned owl and had a crowd of people who were curious about the birds.

At the beginning of July I was heading down to south St. Pete to take some critters to Penny, the rehabber and the above peacock also made the trip. The peacock had been found nearby with an injured leg and the Raptor Center was sending it to a peacock expert rehabber in nearby Clearwater. Peacocks roam freely all over the Tampa bay area and get a bad rap. People don’t like them because they are loud and messy so they tend to get “injured” around the area. I recently wrote about them in this post. 

I had to laugh as I was heading down Penny’s street a peacock walked right in front of my car.  I was going slow but it might not have been lucky if someone was speeding through this neighborhood.

This was my cargo that morning. Three baby possums.

A week later I transported 3 screech owls to the Raptor Center that had been rescued.

 

Different things at Gatorland

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

Many of the birds were still sitting on eggs at the bird rookery at Gatorland in Orlando in mid-May.

Some were still flirting.

Lots of different wild birds hanging out at the park including the great egret above that stole a hot dog from an alligator. You can feed the alligators here but half of the time the birds get the food quicker.

Pretty peacock.

The youngest baby birds at the rookery that morning. The baby snowy egrets were probably only a few days old.

The gators were getting frisky.

Seeing a baby gator up close.

This guy was taking a break before the crowds were on the boardwalk.

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

The eagles are back – Skywatch Friday

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

DSC_8460

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.

DSC_8439

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.

DSC_8442

They were all over the neighborhood.

horse

I stopped to take a picture of the eagle in the tree and a horse came over to check me out.

DSC_8464

At a nearby pond, I found a kildeer couple.

DSC_8468

One of them was wandering down the sidewalk in front of the houses. His friend was across the street in front of the pond.

I was excited to see the eagle back at the horse farm. I’m hoping for another successful eagle family again this year.

Check out more sky pictures at Skywatch Friday