Fish for breakfast?

On March 7, 2024February 29, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

The weather at the end of November and into December can go either way. It can be still warm and icky or turn cold and sunny. Luckily it was the 2nd one this year. Although I was still in shorts at the end of November it was at least cool and 72 degrees. The sun had already come up when I started my walk on the Dunedin causeway.

I noticed a lot of young herring gulls on the beach side of the causeway and ran back to my car and got my camera. Herring gulls are snowbirds and only stay here during the winter. One had found a piece of fish floating along the shoreline. He played with it for a while and then dropped it and walked off.

A crow picked it up and then the herring gull was interested in it again.

Several more herring gulls showed up and they kept picking at it and dropping it.

A sanderling had found another fish part as well. He pecked at it for a few minutes and left it behind.

A pelican taking a break on the buoy marker.

It was too nice to go home so I stopped by the Dunedin marina for a quick walk.

Ending the year and starting another with injured birds

On February 17, 2024February 16, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Look at that beautiful face! This poor barred owl had been shot but was making a quick recovery. In late October I picked him up at the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay in Brandon and drove him down to a rehabber in St. Pete. Soon he will be ready to fly free.

A vulture also made the trip. Penny was pulling him out of the back of my car and checking him over. He was found sick and should be released soon.

So many vultures were either sick or getting hit by cars. They feed in the roads eating roadkill so they are sometimes risking their lives for a meal. No one slows down anymore. I made several trips to pick up injured turkey vultures to take to rehabbers in early November.

The above river cooter had been hit by a car Thanksgiving week. A good samaritan picked her up and brought her to the Raptor Center. Overnight she laid an egg. The next morning I drove the cooter and her egg to the Swamp Girl Adventures near Orlando.

This poor red shoulder hawk had an injured eye. Someone found him in their yard and brought him into an emergency vet who called the Raptor Center. I picked him up right away and drove him to Penny in south St. Pete.

The week of Christmas this common loon was found on the ground in the middle of Florida, no where near water. Loons winter here in Florida but in water. I see them often in the gulf or bay on my walks. Loons don’t have the ability to take off from land so if they are on land they are stranded for some reason. He might have gotten blown off course by a bad storm that had recently hit Florida. I drove him from the Raptor Center to Seaside Seabird Sanctuary on Indian Shore beach. They are loon experts and will hopefully have him swimming in the gulf in no time.

I had some time before heading home so I did a quick walk around the seabird sanctuary and followed the above pelican out to the beach. The sanctuary gets a lot of wild birds hanging around looking for a free handout. It was a beautiful but cold windy morning so I got a very rare shot of an empty stretch of beach.

I made a quick trip back to Penny, the rehabber, on Christmas eve with another injured vulture.

The day after New Year I drove a great horned owl that was about to be released down to Penny’s as well as a tiny bat that was found on the ground in someone’s yard. He was named Pop Tart because he was brought in to the Raptor Center in a Pop Tart box. Bats can’t take off from the ground. They need to drop down a few feet to get lift before taking off so if a bat is on the ground it’s probably sick. They eat their weight in mosquitos every night so they are very beneficial to have around. Many people put up bat boxes in their neighborhoods to keep the insect population down. We have a box nearby and I love going out to get the mail right before dark and seeing they flying around.

Floating potatoes on my walk

On October 14, 2023October 7, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals2 Comments

I went for a walk in Safety Harbor and stopped by the fishing pier before heading home. I immediately spotted a manatee swimming away from the pier. She had some interesting boat strike marks on her back. I was thinking she was heading for the boat channel so I thought this would be the only sighting.

A grackle with a snack that he stole from the garbage can is a regular sight here.

Pelicans were flying around. It looked like they were having a discussion over who got the best spot on the sign. After snapping the above I looked down and saw the below.

The manatee had come back around and got right under the pier. It had some friends as well. There were 4 swimming around this particular morning. The first 3 were taken with my phone. They do look like floating potatoes from up on the pier.

They eventually started swimming away from the pier but not before one of them slapped the water with his tail.

One of them stopped and started floating on his back. I don’t see this often.

Two spotted eagle rays came close to the pier.

Take a walk with me

On September 28, 2023September 28, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights6 Comments

It’s been a hot summer with little rain. Most days looked like this. Sunny with no real chance of rain (at least the rain lowers heat). I went out early for a short walk on the causeway, hoping for a breeze.

The water was so clear you could see the little bait fish swimming in between the old concrete pillars.

The north side of the causeway has never been nice but now it’s really full of dead seaweed. I wonder if this is part of that big 5,000 miles of sargassum seaweed that was floating out in the Atlantic Ocean and heading for Florida.

Walking over the bridge I was almost eye level with the terns diving for fish.

The south side of the causeway was nice and clear.

A kiteboarder goes cruising by.

After my walk I headed over to the marina to see if there were any dolphins or manatees swimming by.

A pelican sits on the corner of the pier and for a short while no one was bothering him.

I could see a dolphin fin breaking the water (just below the red sign) but I couldn’t find him again after I snapped this. He must have turned around and headed out under water.

My favorite great egret was there on the floating dock, trying to catch bait fish through the hole.

There’s a live camera on top of the restaurant next to the pier (it has a minute or two delay). I pulled it up on my phone and screen shot the above of me standing there leaning on the pier (in the blue shirt on the right). I had the pier all to myself this morning, no fishermen or joggers stopping by.

At the piers

On May 18, 2023May 11, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

This is something you don’t see everyday in mid-March. That water was a little chilly, even with a short wetsuit. I was out for a short walk on the Oldsmar pier and saw this guy. It looked like fun but you really need some heavy upper body strength to hold that big sail up. Once he got up he went flying by and across the bay.

It was a quiet morning with only a few willets flying around so I headed over to the Dunedin marina.

These grackles were happily singing the morning away.

The usual beautiful scene from the marina.

The only birds I saw were willets and starlings on the little grassy area.

Also, house sparrows. They were busy taking dirt baths.

The purple martins are back!

On April 17, 2023April 9, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I had heard the purple martins were back at the Dunedin marina so one morning I drove around to the front of the marina to see if I could get some shots of them in the bird house. I also found some other birds there as well. The spotted sandpipers will be going back up north soon

Pigeons get no respect but they are pretty when the sun shines on them.

A kingfisher was hanging out on the channel marker at the entrance to the marina.

All of the usual birds were there. Green herons, great egrets and pelicans.

The purple martins were busy moving in to the martin house. It looks like most of them were in couples and had staked out their spots. Last year I found them when the babies were almost fully grown and ready to leave to I’m hoping this year I can see some young babies.

The view from the purple martin house. You can see Clearwater beach across the water. It used to be a quiet little beach area with 2 story Mom and Pop hotels but not anymore. All highrises and the traffic is terrible. Parking is $30 a day. Only the tourists go to this beach now.

Baby season has started

On March 30, 2023March 18, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography11 Comments

Finally, I was able to see the head of a baby on the eagle’s nest in my neighborhood on 2/11. He still had gray fuzz on his head. This nest has been really annoying this year. They rebuilt it farther back on the tower and the nest has sunken in quite a bit. And so many sticks “sticking” up in the way. But I was glad to see at least one baby!

It looks like one of the parents was adding to the nest.

Both parents together on the nest on a sunny morning.

This was the view from the other side of the nest. You can really see where it was sinking in the middle so the babies are hidden far down in the bowl.

At this point there was always one parent on guard on the tower.

One morning I saw an eagle on the big pine tree in front of the Oldsmar pier. He spent a lot of time up here last year but this was this first time seeing him here this year.

Flybys close to the nest included a pelican and osprey. There is an osprey nest close by the eagle’s nest and the osprey will fly close but the eagles always yell at them and they take off.

I heard the pileated woodpecker screaming as he landed on top of the utility pole right in front of where I was standing at the nest. I quickly snapped this and off he went again. I hear them screaming all over the neighborhood.

One of the many osprey nest in the neighborhood. This one is a few towers down from the eagle’s nest. I caught them bringing in padding for the nest. This one is pretty far away.

A full moon before dark.

Fly away free big bird!

On March 18, 2023March 7, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I was meeting a friend for lunch over at the beach and stopped at nearby Seaside Seabird Sanctuary for a quick walk. The sanctuary rescues and rehabilitates over 10,000 birds a year and most get released but some are permanently disabled and live their lives out here. Many are missing wings, eyes or parts of their beaks. I noticed in the one of the pelican enclosures that they were starting to nest. When the babies are born they are released into the wild. It looks like one of the pelicans didn’t understand the nest concept.

Some of the couples were just starting to get frisky in late January. It looks like the lady was missing an eye.

This one in the back of the enclosure was stretching his mouth. He was also missing an eye.

They release injured birds once they are better (some may have gotten sick from red tide) and I happened to be there the afternoon they were doing a big release. Since the sanctuary sits right on the beach they are able to set them free right here.

The volunteers walked the pelicans down to the shore and let them go. Most took off immediately but a few hung around the beach for a while before flying away. I’m sure for the volunteers it makes all the work worthwhile to see them fly away. If you notice they are all holding the pelican’s beak open as they carry them out to the beach. Pelicans don’t have noses. They breath through their beaks so it’s important that someone rescuing an injured pelican doesn’t hold the beak closed.

Rolling in

On March 2, 2023March 3, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights6 Comments

I had to get out of the house so I went for a short mini walk in late January at the Dunedin marina and the fog started rolling in. It started out sunny but got foggy pretty quickly.

Standing on the pier, looking back into the marina, I could see the sun trying to stay out. It cast a sleepy glow back on land.

Out in the water I would see a fog bow.

The usual docile birds were hanging out on the pier.

The sea fog kept rolling in and getting thicker as I was leaving.

Sleeping shorebirds

On January 28, 2023January 22, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

It was a quiet morning on the Dunedin causeway and I noticed a lot of sleeping shorebirds. After my walk I got my camera out of my car and started snapping the shorebirds. I found a lone black bellied plover mixed in with a lot of dowitchers. When I cropped this up I noticed the little dunlin on the right.

I usually only see large flocks of laughing gulls here so it was great to see all of the dowitchers sleeping together. Some were trying to nap and some were feeding. There were a few dunlins and ruddy turnstones mixed in as well.