Birds at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park

On May 16, 2026April 29, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I saw lots of birds during my visit to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park in January. Kingfishers were still hanging around (they are only here in the winter). This one was posing nicely for me although this shot was heavily cropped.

A few migrating birds passing through included a redstart and a blue headed vireo.

I usually see pileated woodpeckers when I’m here.

Ibis in a dead snag.

A typical Florida scene, a great blue heron on a fallen tree.

Wild night herons hang out here.

A few of the permanent residents include roseate spoonbills and a rare white morph great blue heron.

Wood ducks nest along the river here and occasionally they hang out in the park.

The flamingos were sleeping.

Not a bird but a red fox eating some yummy vegetables for breakfast.

Foggy season has started

On March 16, 2026April 10, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

It was late November and foggy season had arrived. I love cool foggy morning walks so I headed to the Dunedin causeway. As I drove up this crow posed in front of my car. The fog wasn’t super thick but it was just enough to cast that weird winter spell.

The sun tried to peek through a few times as I walked over the bridge.

White pelicans were flying over my head. I really had wished I had my camera.

The tide was low and I could see the coral under the bridge.

The fog didn’t let up through my entire walk.

An osprey takes off after landing for a few minutes in the low tide.

A lone roseate spoonbill was feeding along the sea wall under the bridge. Even in the fog his bright pink feathers popped out.

An osprey eating a fish on the drawbridge gate. It would have been funny to see the gate start to go down while the osprey was on it but at least he got to eat his meal in peace. Not many tall boats out this morning.

Back on the trail after 3 years.

On June 9, 2025July 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

I missed this sunrise. I hadn’t been out to Circle B Bar Reserve in 3 years. It was time to go back. Not much had changed. The trails looked the same in general. One of the main trails, Alligator Alley, was closed due to damage from the hurricanes last year but there is still a lot to see out here and many other trails. The sun was just coming up when I walked out on Heron Hideout trail in mid-March.

Looking out over the marsh at the intersection of Marsh Rabbit Run and Heron Hideout. Those cypress trees in the middle are still there.

Bur marigolds were still out in some spots along the trail. Their peak bloom is in November when the marsh is covered with them.

You have to look down below when getting close to edge on the raised trail. You never know what’s lurking in the marsh below.

A great blue heron showing off his breeding wispy feathers. He had his eye on something moving in the water and wasn’t paying any attention to me.

It was a quiet morning and very few people as I made my way down Marsh Rabbit Run trail. The ponds along this trail have gotten choked up with vegetation.

The moon was still up behind a cormorant.

A roseate spoonbill flies by.

I stopped by the great horned owl nest before leaving and could only see one baby sitting up. The other baby was sleeping behind him.

I took a lot more pictures so more to come on this trip.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Around the yard in mid-July

On November 4, 2024October 24, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I looked out the kitchen window and saw a squirrel in the small tree in our front courtyard. I realized he was eating one of the almost dead sunflowers. He sat there and ate it while I ran and got my camera. I guess he was eating the sunflower seeds. He looked so happy like he had just won a prize.

In mid-July we had a heavy storm and the temporary pond across the fairway filled back up. Late one afternoon I saw a spoonbill feeding in the pond and went out with my camera. Luckily there wasn’t anyone playing golf that late and I was able to stand in the fairway and get some shots of the spoony and his friends without getting too close. There was also a snowy egret, a little blue heron and a juvenile little blue heron (the white one above).

A quick video of them feeding that I took with my phone.

The hummingbird was a regular visitor to the feeder and the shrimp plant.

These two turkeys came cruising by and stopped long enough for me to sneak out back and shoot the above from our patio.

We had a rabbit come by and feed on our ivy in the patio. I took these through the glass door. He saw me but kept eating for a while. I didn’t mind him eating the ivy. We are always cutting it back.

A few days later I was doing some clean up in the front and saw this tiny bunny up against our front door. I snapped the above and texted a rehabber to make sure he was old enough to be on his own. She said he was fine. Later I saw him hopping around the courtyard but haven’t seen him since that day.

Those weird fungus looking things on my back glass door that was actually lacewing eggs turned into this. They are beneficial to the yard and will eat tons of little bugs including mealybugs, aphids, spider mites and whiteflies.

A pretty mushroom after the rain. The squirrels usually eat them.

I was at the pool in our subdivision and this dragonfly landed on my towel and stayed long enough for me to pull my phone out and snap the above.

Afternoon lightning I shot from the garage.

July skies from the front yard.

A last trip to the beach for the summer.

On September 23, 2024November 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was early June and I was back out on the beach at Fort Desoto Park early in the morning. It had been 2 weeks since my last trip and I was hoping to find the baby oystercatchers again to see how much they had grown.

The first thing I spotted was a lone roseate spoonbill.

Then I found 2 of the baby oystercatchers. It took me a while to find them since they blend in so well. At first they were sleeping but then one got up and walked around.

I realized there was another area roped off near the lagoon. Closer to the water I could see both oystercatcher parents with the 3rd baby.

After a few minutes later both parents started to take a nap.

The smallest baby was wandering around while the parents slept. At this point I plopped down on the sand to take a break as well.

Eventually the parents and 3rd baby made their way back to the lagoon and joined the other 2 babies. They all walked around for a few minutes and then hunkered down for a nap again so I headed down the beach to see what else I could find.

This is a common sight along this area of the beach. Beach patrols go out and mark off turtle nests. They can usually find them by the drag of the Mom’s weight back to the water and the big hole her body makes as she lays the eggs. All of the nests are recorded and dated and they keep track of when they may hatch. Since they hatch at night and the park is closed at night the babies aren’t usually disturbed trying to get to the water.

Someone’s artwork in the sand.

I was there early enough to have the beach almost to myself. There was a few other photographers there as well.

When I was leaving I found these nanday parakeets near the parking lot.

I didn’t make it back out to the park this summer. It’s just too hot and there hasn’t been much sighted during this time. I’m hoping the white pelicans will be back in October and I’ll make the trip if I hear they are back.

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.

Dolphins, a manatee and a spoonbill!

On February 22, 2024February 21, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals4 Comments

I was driving on the Dunedin causeway one morning in mid-November when I saw a roseate spoonbill feeding along the shoreline at the beginning of the causeway. I had my camera in the car so I turned around and got out and snapped a few shots before someone came walking down the beach and spooked him away. I’m glad I stopped before my walk because he would not have been there on my way back. He looked so pretty in the sun.

The grumpy looking ole reddish egret was there. I see him here often. He didn’t move an inch while I was taking pictures of the spoonbill. After a quick walk on the bridges I headed to the nearby marina to walk around.

As I walked around by the boats a dolphin was heading into the marina. He was fast but I was able to snap the above with my phone. I didn’t even see him leave.

When I walked out on to the fishing pier there were several dolphins heading out into the open water. The marina dolphin may have been one of them.

Someone was going to have a nice boating trip, although it wasn’t windy at all this morning.

There were several manatees in the marina swimming in between the slips. One came fairly close to the sea wall. It looked like he had some type of hump on his back but I couldn’t get a better shot.

I looked up from the manatees and saw a green heron hiding on a boat, watching me. They are common here and eat the bugs and small mangrove crabs on the dock poles.

September in the yard

On December 7, 2023November 25, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals10 Comments

I looked out the back window one morning and saw deer on our patio. One was so close. I took these with my camera through the window. I knew they would take off if I opened the door but I think they still saw me.

One walked over to my Christmas cactus (that wasn’t blooming at the time) and started eating it. I took a video of if and above is one of the stills. She demolished it. It was a small one and wasn’t doing very well so I didn’t try and stop her. I replanted the pot with petunias.

Bluebirds taking a bath.

Across the fairway I could see a spoonbill sleeping under a tree. I went outside and snapped the above from our little yard. A little later I saw it feeding in the newly formed pond from the much needed rain we had. I didn’t see anyone on the course so I snuck across to get a little closer.

I sat down under a nearby tree and watched as the spoonbill was feeding. A juvenile little blue heron and a few white ibis were also there.

The young turkey showed up with Mom again. I went outside and took these. They didn’t seem to mind me sitting in the grass nearby. They stayed for a while, pecking around the yard.

I saw another lone turkey taking a nap (or a dirt bath) nearby.

I finally saw the twins in my neighborhood. I was coming home from running errands and had my camera in the car. I pulled over right before my house and snapped them heading into the woods at the end of our street.

The view from across the street in mid-September.

I took these with my phone from the upstairs bathroom window. This was the only night we had a good lightning storm this summer.

Mid-April in the backyard.

On June 22, 2023June 17, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I was looking out the back door and saw the above great egret in the yard. He saw me standing there and walked up close to the door. Someone nearby has been feeding him because he was looking for a handout. I took the first shot with my phone through the door and then went and got my camera. I slowly cracked open the door and he perked up, probably thinking I was coming out with a snack. I shot the above with my camera and then closed the door. He eventually left.

In mid-April I saw a Carolina wren in the backyard with 2 young ones. The 2 juveniles were bouncing around the yard, following Mom and still being fed by her. They must have just left the nest because they were bouncing and hopping around more than flying. I ran out with my camera as they passed my yard and headed into my neighbor’s yard.

Butterflies are regular visitors on the lantana plant.

It was getting dark and I was watering the plants and I heard the above great crested flycatcher right above me. I ran in and got my camera but it was so dark.

I hadn’t seen any bluebirds for a while and was thinking they were nesting in my neighbor’s nest box but then I saw a few in the backyard and one was getting nesting material in front of my window so some of them may still be working on a nest.

I’m glad someone is using my nest box.

We were still in an extreme drought and the pond down the street was almost dry. There was just a tiny bit of water in the middle. Some type of piping was exposed (it might have been thrown in there by a neighbor years ago). I was heading out for a bike ride and saw the spoonbill in the pond so I had to stop and take some pictures.

A juvenile little blue heron and a great blue heron were looking for snacks as well.

We are starting to get those summer sky colors right before dark but still no rain.

Hanging with the spoonies

On November 26, 2019November 26, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn zoo animals5 Comments

The roseate spoonbills that live at the Florida Aquarium have a big aviary to hang out in. Early in the morning if you get there when they first open, the spoonbills usually hang out right up front, at the edge of the water in the exhibit. It was quiet and they were running around feeding and squabbling over the best spots. As the aquarium gets busy the spoonbills fly up in the trees and nap. It’s cool to see these beautiful birds up close.