New birds in the muck

Posted on September 9, 2023 by dinajohnston

Roosevelt Wetlands is a small reserve right next to the waste plant. It has a great trail that runs across the lake and is usually quiet. Just don’t go when the wind is blowing towards the reserve. I got there pretty early and first saw 2 skimmers skimming along the lake.

It looks like this moorhen bit off part of a lily pad.

A kildeer flew close by.

Some wintering birds were still there in early May. A sora rail and a spotted sandpiper.

Cute duck family.

A lesser yellowlegs was creeping around in the muck.

Two new birds in one shot. A white rumped sandpiper on the left and a semipalmated sandpiper on the right. These aren’t super rare birds for this area but for some reason I kept missing them. They were also creeping around in the muck.

A least sandpiper was also with the new birds. I had not seen one of these since 2012.

Another shot of the white rumped sandpiper.

A little sandpiper party.

Another shot of the semipalmated sandpiper.

I finally saw the gull billed tern. He flew by really fast and this was the only shot I could get of him. He circled around the pond and then left. He isn’t an exciting bird but a new one for me.

The only new bird I didn’t see that was sighted there before was a stilt sandpiper. Maybe next time.

A lot of old birds and a new one

Posted on September 7, 2023 by dinajohnston

In early May I headed down to Fort Desoto Park for one last trip to look for migrating birds. I had heard there were some new birds there. The first bird I find is a hermit thrush, not a new bird for me since I had one in my backyard all winter.

I did find a new bird. This gray-cheeked thrush looked a little like the hermit thrush but was a little bigger. It looks like there were 2 of them at the park, one near the ranger’s house and one at the east beach turnaround.

The bay breasted warblers above are not new but I haven’t seen one since 2018. They were staying deep in the bushes and were hard to get.

I have only seen a golden wing warbler once before in 2016. This one was hanging out at the east beach turnaround and was pretty skittish. We (meaning me and about 20 other birders) were standing far away on the other side of the road waiting for him to show up.

There’s been a lot of scarlet tanagers (above is a female) and indigo buntings at the park this spring.

While we were waiting for the golden winged warbler to show up this female ruby throated hummingbird put on show for us. It was feeding on the dandelions and I was sitting on the ground so it was fairly easy to get a shot but we were still far away.

I walked quickly past this osprey sitting on the trail. I didn’t want to get pooped on.

It was a beautiful morning looking for birds. Spring migration was winding down but there was still a lot of birds there this morning.

Cloudy with a chance of rain

Posted on August 20, 2023 by dinajohnston

I made another trip to Fort Desoto Park in late April. I was hoping there would still be some migrating birds stopping by. There was a small chance of rain even though it looked like it would pour at any time.

The only migrating bird I found was a Cape May warbler. There were several of these cuties in the woods near the ranger’s house.

Heading to the gulf fishing pier.

The usual birds were at the fishing pier including a ruddy turnstone showing me his missing foot and great egrets.

The laughing gulls were putting on a show on top of the shelter on the pier.

I thought maybe the sun would break through but it stayed cloudy.

Pelicans hanging out on the jetti next to the pier.

A quick shot of a red breasted merganser that was still there. They spend the winter here but usually leave in March.

It was still a nice morning out even though it wasn’t very birdy or sunny.

Old birds and a new one

Posted on July 27, 2023 by dinajohnston

It was still late April, just a few days after my trip to Fort Desoto to look for migrating birds. I had heard there were some different birds there so I headed back down to the park. The sun was just coming up and I stopped on the bridge going into the park to snap the above with my phone. I knew even if I didn’t find any good birds it would still be a great day out.

The first thing I saw by the ranger’s house was lots of rose breasted grosbeaks.

There were also a lot of indigo buntings, both female and males.

A nice surprise was seeing the Louisiana waterthrush. It was only my 2nd time seeing one and the first time was in 2017, right here at the fountain.

This was my first Nashville warbler. I spent a good bit of time looking for him along with a lot of other people. He was found deep in the mangroves and would not come out. At first I got a picture of his feet, then his wing. Finally I was able to at least get a shot of his face.

An osprey flies by with something to cushion the nest.

Kiteboarders out on this beautiful breezy morning.

So far this year I had seen a handful of first sightings which was pretty good considering I was limping around all of this time with a terrible case of plantar fasciitis. In January I got the black scoter and greater scaup, both were easy “get out of the car and snap” pictures. In February I got the Pacific loon and the vesper sparrow. April was the great tailed grackle and the Nashville warbler. In May I got 4 new birds but more to come on those later.

Color in the bushes

Posted on July 17, 2023 by dinajohnston

It was a perfect morning to be at Fort Desoto Park. I had not been down to the park since early February and that was a quick trip to the pier to look for the Pacific loon. It was time for spring migration and I heard some birds had stopped by the park on their way north for the summer.

A quick sunrise stop at the East Beach turnaround is a must. I snapped these with my phone before heading to woods to look for some birds.

My foot was still bothering me in late April but I was determined to see some colorful birds. It’s a short walk from the parking lot to the mangrove bushes and trees behind the ranger’s house. I first saw both a female and male rose breasted grosbeak. They were both up high in the fig tree feasting on the tiny berries.

Baltimore orioles were abundant. It was easy to spot that bright orange bird.

I also found several Orchard orioles including a female (in yellow) and males (in brown). These guys were feeding on the mangroves along the road through the park. Everyone was pulling their car off the road and standing or sitting (me) on the ground watching the birds bounce around the huge mangrove bushes.

I only saw one blue grosbeak this spring migration season and he was hiding.

Of course northern parulas are easy to find.

There were several scarlet tanagers feeding in the fig tree by the flag pole.

This Cape May was posing for me.

There were a lot of indigo buntings this morning. I took a ton of pictures of them but it was hard not to say “Oh yeah, I see those in my backyard”.

It was a fun morning and felt good to be out with my fellow birders. There’s always a big crowd during spring migration here, even on the weekdays if there’s good fall out. That’s okay because there were more eyes to help look for things. I still didn’t find the Nashville warbler which would have been a first for me but my foot gave out after 2 hours so I headed home. I was back 2 days later though. More on that to come.

Spring in the backyard

Posted on May 22, 2023 by dinajohnston

I haven’t seen blue-gray gnatcatchers in the backyard in a long time. This was early April. I was sitting outside enjoying the cool weather and this one came down close and was singing away.

I was pretty excited to see indigo buntings in the backyard. Brett and I were watching tv one Sunday afternoon and I look over and see one on the bird bath. I was able to sneak over to the window and snap the first shot before he flew off. Then I went outside and was able to get the 2nd shot of one up in the tree before they both took off.

The lone turkey has still been visiting and taking naps in the backyard. I wonder if she was scoping out places to nest.

I could see a hawk on the other side of the fairway.

The lizards were showing off for the ladies.

I realized that our wall outside had a lot of these caterpillars. They are tussock moth caterpillars. They are known to eat your plants but we didn’t really notice any damage to the few we had in the back.

One morning I saw one of the caterpillars spinning what looked like a web over his body and I ran out and took the 1st picture. Later that day it was completely covered. I counted 16 of these on the back wall.

A few weeks later I saw a few of these on the windows. I don’t think a lot of the cocoons hatched though.

The gardenia bush was full in early April and I couldn’t stop taking pictures of them. I just wish the pictures captured the smell.

Lots of critters at Fort Desoto

Posted on July 2, 2022 by dinajohnston

Another trip to Fort Desoto Park to look for migrating birds. The first thing I found was a squirrel being cute on the agave plant. I was hoping there would be birds on those plants but no, I find a squirrel.

Cape May warblers were still around. I found both females and males.

I also found a northern parula and a blackpoll warbler (I hadn’t seen one of those in several years).

An osprey was checking me out making sure I wasn’t going to steal his fish.

Cormorants were diving for fish around the fishing pier.

It was a slow dolphin morning but I did manage to find one.

The starlings and nanday parakeets were fighting over wire space in the parking lot.

Adding two lifers to my list

Posted on June 18, 2022 by dinajohnston

Word gets around fast in the birding world when there’s a rare bird somewhere in the area. I had read on some bird sites Sunday night that there was a rare Kirtland’s warbler at Fort Desoto Park. It’s listed as one of the rarest warblers in the world. They winter in the Bahamas and spend summers in Michigan. I’ve never heard of one in Florida before. I got to the park just before 7:30 the next morning and there was already a small crowd staring at the bushes where he was seen the day before. No one had seen him yet. I was thinking this is probably going to be a needle in a haystack morning but then I saw Ed. Ed Rizer drove over from the Lakeland area and he is know for being able to find anything. I’m thinking if anyone can find this bird, Ed can. About 10 minutes later I looked around and Ed had disappeared. I’m thinking “He’s going to walk around and find that bird”. Not 5 minutes later I hear him yell “He’s over here”. The bird was in a different area but close by. Everyone ran over and we all started shooting. The bird was not skittish at all. Everyone stayed pretty far back (we all had our longest lenses with us). I spent about 15 minutes taken a ton of pictures of this bird. He stayed on the ground just outside of some bushes, feeding on bugs.

Later in the morning after walking around the park, I headed back to the area where the Kirtland’s was again. He had moved over to the mangrove bushes where we originally were looking. I left the crowds of people who had driven from all over Florida to see him.

There were a lot of other migrating birds but not a lot of variety. We found one rose breasted grossbeak. An ovenbird was on the trail and there were a lot of redstart sightings.

One bird I haven’t seen in several years was a black throated blue warbler.

There were a lot of Cape May warblers all over the park.

The 2nd bird I added to my list this morning was a black whiskered vireo. There was one seen several years ago here but I couldn’t find it. After looking for this guy all morning I was about to give up and leave and someone yelled out they found him. I snapped the above and headed home since it was way past lunch time.

This was a very productive morning in late April at the park. It still seems like there are less birds coming through every year.

Early spring migration at Fort Desoto

Posted on May 26, 2022 by dinajohnston

It was a beautiful morning when I got to Fort Desoto Park in early April. I stopped by the East Beach turnaround to get a shot of the sun coming up over the bay. I had high hopes for seeing some migrating birds that has stopped by but it was still a little too early for spring migration. Last April we had a really slow migration with hardly any birds stopping by so I’m hoping we don’t have a repeat.

A pileated woodpecker was the first bird I saw, high up in a tree.

A hooded warbler and a black and white warbler with a snack. Normally I would be excited but I had just seen both of these in my backyard.

There were at least 3 prothonotary warblers in a big bush in front of the water fountain being very cooperative. It was the only other migrating bird we saw that morning. There were a lot of people out looking. Again, it was still early in the month.

An opsrey was eating a fish in the tree behind the prothonotary warbler. I had to take a shot before heading to the gulf fishing pier for a quick walk before heading home.

I got to the fishing pier and saw the reddish egret that has the white wings fly by.

There were a lot of birds at the little beach next to the fishing pier. The usual gulls, terns and oystercatchers. But there was something else that looked different.

A rare kittiwake was sitting there with the other birds. After a while I realized a ton of people were at the pier taking pictures of him as well. This is only my 2nd kittiwake sighting. Back in 2013 I was able to see the immature one at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge fishing pier. I had heard there was one seen in 2017 and this was the 3rd sighting recorded in Pinellas county ever. People were phoning and texting friends and by noon a big crowd had formed. Everyone gave him space and stayed off the beach area. They even stopped tourists from walking through the area. Twice he took off and flew down the pier and came back on the beach.

Laughing gulls were fighting over stolen bait fish (the one on the left has one in his beak).

A boat cruises by the lighthouse on Egmont Key.

Rainbows on the trail.

Posted on April 26, 2022 by dinajohnston

Ladies first. I first saw a female painted bunting walking down the trail at Circle B Bar Reserve in mid-March. I was thinking even if I didn’t see a male one, the female is still a beauty!

Then this guy flew in front of me and stole the show. The male painted buntings are a rainbow of colors. They don’t even look real. This one was very accomodating, eating seed right along the trail.

He was gorging on the seed. I just stood there for a while and didn’t move.Luckily no one was coming up behind me on the trail to scare it away. I had my 400mm lens and these are cropped so he wasn’t that close but close enough for me to get some good looks.

A little farther down the trail I saw another one.

A third one popped up but he stayed farther in the reeds and a little bit more hidden. What a great morning this was. It’s rare for me to see one but to see three was a treat. They stayed on the trails for a while. I went back later and saw them again.

Dina's Wildlife Adventures

Tag Archives: spring migration