Driving around in June and July

On September 28, 2024November 14, 2024 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.

Rescue transports in late May

On August 10, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

In mid-May a call went out to transport some young critters from the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay to a rehabber in south St. Pete. I made the trip to pick up the above juvenile crows and a box of baby possums. The crows made that caw sound almost the entire trip. The Raptor Center takes in all kinds of injured or lost baby critters but since they specialize in raptors they send other critters to rehabbers that are experts in other animals.

The baby possums were put in a pouch and snuggled up together for the ride. They are so cute at that age!

The next day a sick juvenile night heron was rescued and brought to the Raptor Center so I took it to the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary that morning. The sanctuary volunteers are experts in rehabbing big water birds.

While I was there I got to go into the bird hospital and meet Meatball. Meatball (the paler one on the right) is a roseate spoonbill and is one of the newest permanent residents. Meatball came into the clinic in April of 2023 and had a fractured wing that had healed incorrectly and he is unable to fly. Meatball was busy meeting another spoonbill that had come in sick but was getting better so he was ignoring me.

As I was standing back watching the two spoonbills and taking pictures a masked bobby walked by. What? It was amazing to see this bird up close. I’ve only seen them out in the wild once and that was in the Keys from a boat. He had been brought to the clinic sick and was doing much better and was about to be released.

The outside of the hospital was getting a cool paint job.

A few days later I got a text asking if I could pick up a puppy coyote and bring it to the Raptor Center. I was on my to the grocery story but thought groceries can wait for a puppy, even a coyote one. It was brought to Moccasin Lake Nature Park early in the morning by a ranger. The rehabber there, Barbara, runs the Moccasin Lake Raptor Sanctuary out of the park and she met me there to give it a feeding and get it into a crate so I could drive it to the Raptor Center.

While she was feeding the coyote I was looking around the hospital and noticed the osprey with a wrapped wing. He had just been to a vet to get his injured wing set. Then I noticed a hawk I had never seen. A lost ferruginous hawk was in the cage. He belongs on the western part of the country. They think it is a falconer’s pet that got out because it was trained. They were working on locating the owner.

The young coyote was loaded into my car. He had some injuries on his chest and they couldn’t find a parent anywhere so he was brought in. Once he got to the Raptor Center he would be tested for ringworm and then placed with a rehabber that had other orphan coyotes to grow up with and eventually be released. Those ears and eyes just stole my heart!

A few days after the coyote trip I was back on the road taking a carload of young critters to Penny in St. Pete. At first we couldn’t tell what this tiny baby bird was but when it started calling for food Penny realized it was a brown thrasher.

A young crow, a baby possom and some baby doves (I didn’t get a picture of them) also made the trip.

The next week I got a call to meet a rescuer in north St. Pete. She had just rescued two baby Cooper’s hawks that were found on the ground with no parents around. The nest was destroyed so the babies couldn’t be renested.

When I got to the Raptor Center Nancy pulled them out and was checking to see how healthy they were. They were starving but should be okay after a few feedings.

So many boxes of baby squirrels.

On November 11, 2023November 9, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

We didn’t get much rain in mid-August but it poured the afternoon I needed to get some injured wildlife to a rehabber. This trip I stopped at the emergency vet office and picked up some lost baby squirrels to add to the box of baby squirrels I was taking to Penny (the crazy busy rehabber in south St. Pete). After the vet office I stopped at the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay in Brandon and picked up more baby squirrels, a tiny baby opossum, a juvenile opossum and a juvenile red bellied woodpecker. They all made the trip to Penny’s so they could finish growing up before being released. And yes, that box of squirrels also had the tiny opossum. We put him in the squirrel box to keep warm since it had a warming gel pad under the towels.

A few days later I made a quick trip to the vet office to pick a lost baby squirrel and a pigeon with an injured wing and take them both to the Raptor Center.

The next day I made another trip to take the above from the Raptor Center to Penny in south St. Pete. That little baby opossum was just too cute when Nancy picked him up to put him in the box to make the trip. More baby squirrels and an injured black vulture (my first vulture passenger). A laughing gull also made this trip.

The next week I brought more lost baby squirrels and an opossum to Penny. The tiny bird was an Island canary that was found sick and exhausted. It was banded and Penny was going to try and find the owner. It was either an escapee or was released.

The day after Hurricane Idalia skirted by the Tampa bay area was a busy rescue day. People had brought Nancy baby squirrels that had fallen out of trees the day of the hurricane and a juvenile osprey had fallen off the nest. I picked them up in the morning and took them down to Penny. She took the osprey out of the crate while I was there and checked her out. She didn’t look injured so she should be released as soon as she’s eating and flying.

Later that afternoon I got a request to pick up some more lost critters that had come in from the emergency vet office. I picked up more baby squirrels and the cutest baby duck. I drove them right down to Penny’s.

In early September I got my first turtle passenger. A soft shell turtle had swallowed a fishing hook. I drove it over to Swamp Girl Adventures in Kissimmee, just outside of Orlando. Kim took the turtle and said they shouldn’t have a problem getting that hook out. I have to say that turtle was the stinkiest passenger I have had. It does live in a swamp after all. I hosed out the blue tub and left my windows rolled down for a day and the smell was gone.

Rescue trips in the first half of August

On October 23, 2023April 9, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

The Raptor Center of Tampa Bay put out a request for a volunteer to pick up an injured turtle that someone had brought in to a vet. Thinking it may have been hit by a car. This is my first sad trip. I got to the vet office and they told me it had just passed away. It was probably in bad shape when it was brought it. As I was fighting back the tears they said “We do have an injured duck. Can you take that to a rehabber?” My response was “Of course”

So this cutie made the trip to the Raptor Center all alone. It looked a little scratched up but otherwise in good shape.

This little wide eyed cutie made the trip from the Raptor Center to a rehabber near St. Pete. Paula at Crikey Wildlife Rescue specializes in rehabbing and releasing raccoons and squirrels. She has had the rabies vaccine and can work with older raccoons, although rabies is fairly rare in our area (only 1 case this year and zero last year in Pinellas county).

I had a carload of red shoulder hawks in the back of my SUV on this trip. Two had been brought in on the same day and both had been shot. The third one had an injured wing.

Nancy from the Raptor Center was able to get them x-ray’d to confirm that the 2 had been shot. Above is one of the x-rays. You can see the tiny bullet near the end of his wing. Who does that? Maybe the hawks were stealing chickens from a farmer or backyard? I would hate to think they were just randomly shot but it could happen.

All three were headed to a vet in Nokomis (south of Sarasota), about an hour away from the Raptor Center. The vet works with wildlife and was going to take the bullets out of the 2 and look at the other one with an injured wing. Since they would stay overnight I just dropped them off and someone nearby was bringing them back later.

The vet was 10 minutes from Nokomis beach so I stopped and got out for a few minutes to stretch my legs before heading home (it would be close to 2 hours to get back to my house). It would have been a perfect morning if it wasn’t so hot. I should have brought my swimsuit and gone for a dip.

Heading over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to get back home. Not much traffic this morning (which is rare).

This tiny young squirrel was brought into a vet one morning. I picked him up and headed straight to the rehabber Penny in south St. Pete.

In mid-August we had a bad storm move through the area and the next day there were quite a few baby squirrels that were brought in. Nests or babies falling from trees in the storm. I drove out to the Raptor Center in Brandon and picked up a large box of squirrels. All different ages and they were huddled together for warmth. They were all going to Penny in south St. Pete to grow up and eventually get released.

A crow with an injured wing also made the trip. He yelled the entire trip.

I had heard there was a rare Egyptian goose that had showed up in the area near where Penny lives. Since I was going to be down there I threw my camera in the car and after dropping off the squirrels and crow I headed to the nearby lake. He was very easy to find. I pulled over and snapped a couple of shots before heading home. This was the first time I have heard of them being in Pinellas county. They are populated all over south Florida, especially in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. I couldn’t find any definite information on whether they were released on purpose or escapees from a zoo. They have been sighted in Florida since the 80’s. They are invasive like the muscovy ducks and I’m sure the neighbors hope it doesn’t have a mate.

Road trips in June.

On August 12, 2023April 7, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

It was early June and the call went out that Raptor Center of Tampa Bay needed help with some transports. I was ready for a road trip. The above juvenile great blue heron had been injured and needed to go to Seaside Seabird Sanctuary in Indian Shores Beach, just under an hour away. Nancy put him in the tote. I was a little nervous around that big beak. He settled down pretty quickly.

Since the great blue heron took up most of the trunk the almost grown barred owls went in the back seat. There were 3 altogether. Two were siblings and were in the crate while the younger one was in a carry box. These guys along with the bunny below went to the rehabber (Penny) that lives in south St. Pete. The owls are almost ready to be released and Penny will get them ready.

This little cutie sat in the front seat and only barely stirred a few times on the trip.

A few days later a young osprey had fallen out of the nest and could not be re-nested so I drove him down to Penny to raise until he can be released. Nancy told me that all of these osprey growing up on platforms is not a good thing. It’s better for osprey to nest in big trees and then the babies can hop around from branch to branch before flying (just like eagles). Most osprey in Pinellas county now nest on utility towers or platforms placed by utility companies to keep them off the towers. Just like most other counties the over population means so many trees are being cut down for homes and buildings. On platforms the babies start flapping and fall right to the ground. The parents won’t feed the babies once they are on the ground and many of them have some type of injury. The baby was calm in Nancy’s arm even though she managed a few yells before going in the transport box.

Another few days went by and there were more juvenile osprey on the ground. I picked up two of them at Nancy’s (of Raptor Center of Tampa Bay) in Brandon and headed down to Save Our Seabirds in Sarasota. All of the rehabbers are full of birds and they could only take one osprey.

I have been here to visit the sanctuary as a tourist several times but it was the first time to come through the emergency back door. I was able to see the clinic for a few minutes but they were crazy busy so I left to make my next drop off.

It was a beautiful day to be out on the bridges. First coming back on the Ringling Bridge in Sarasota and then across the Sunshine Skyway bridge.

I dropped the final osprey off at Penny’s. She took her out of the crate and she didn’t seem afraid of her at all. If all goes well she’ll be released soon.

A new hobby

On July 20, 2023July 30, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Brett and I were sitting at home late on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, not doing much since it was so hot and my foot was bothering me, when I started surfing through Facebook and saw a post from a rescue group needing a transport for a sick bird. I have been following Raptor Center of Tampa Bay on Facebook for a while but I really wasn’t paying attention until I saw the transport request. They needed a pick up of a sick red shoulder hawk at a 24 hour emergency veterinarian and brought to Nancy, the rehabber out in Brandon. I thought “I could do that”, sent them a note that I was coming and jumped in the car. Someone had found the hawk sitting on the side of a busy road and stopped to pick him up and took him to the vet. When I got to the rehabber she pulled him out of the box and said he was a juvenile and was very undernourished. He didn’t even fight her. She was going to try and nurse him back to health.

A few days later the Raptor Center needed another transport. This time from Nancy’s home in Brandon where the Raptor Center is located to another rehabber in south St. Pete. Since there isn’t one big rehab center in the Tampa area for raptors they get placed in smaller rehabs around the area. Penny in St. Pete had room to rehab these critters so off I went to pick them up. The original hawk I had transported earlier was the first one loaded in my car. He looked comfortable and ready for the 45 minute ride.

The bat was found by someone who kept it for a week, feeding it powered milk and ground mealworms. One thing I learned is you should never feed any animal cow’s milk (except cows). Even cats really shouldn’t have milk.