Little fuzzy quackers in the pond

On August 18, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

This spring has been a banner Cape May warbler year. I was at Possum Branch Preserve at the end of April which doesn’t get a lot of migrating birds but this morning there were several.

A black throated blue was also there, feeding in the mulberry tree.

Smaller flying critters along the path around the pond.

A purple gallinule was in the middle of the pond, standing on the spatterdock.

I think this bunny noticed me. He didn’t run though.

An osprey flies by with breakfast.

It was fun to see a big mallard family on the edge of the pond.

I plopped down on the grass for a while and watched them feed. Mom seemed proud of her babies.

Momma duck had better keep an eye out for this guy at the other end of the pond.

Looking for birds during spring migration

On August 2, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I had heard there was a ruby throated hummingbird nest at Sand Key Park in Clearwater but I never thought I’d find it so easily. This lady built this nest on a low branch hanging right over the trail near the playground. I was standing in the bushes watching her and every time someone would go jogging or walking by she would fly off and land on a branch nearby. I didn’t make it back here to see if she was successful with babies or if she abandoned it and moved somewhere more private.

While I was watching the hummingbird this black throated blue warbler hops right in front of me. He paused for a few seconds and took off.

Other yellow birds I found this morning in mid-April were a prairie warbler and a common yellowthroat.

There were several Cape May warblers, both males (in the first two shots) and a female (in the bottom shot).

I heard screaming from behind the trees and looked up and saw the above osprey flapping his wings. He had a half eaten fish in his talons.

Another osprey flew up behind him and he took off with his fish. They both went flying off over the trees.

I was walking on the trail and saw this Cooper’s hawk starting to feed on something. I couldn’t tell what he had at first, thinking maybe it was a mockingbird or dove.

Someone walked past me and got close to the tree and the hawk took off with his meal. It was then I realized he had a red bellied woodpecker. I’ve never seen anything eating a woodpecker before. It’s kind of sad but I know the hawk has to eat too. I just wish it was an annoying mockingbird.

This turned out to be a fun morning. I never expect too much and I didn’t see anything new but I did see a few cool things.

Still looking for spring birds

On July 26, 2025August 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I made another trip to Fort Desoto Park in mid-April but not early enough to catch sunrise. I started out on East Beach and found some royal terns looking for love.

It was mating season for the shorebirds and there was a lot of hanky panky going on early that morning. These birds don’t get any privacy. A sandwich tern (on the right) was interrupting the royal terns and got yelled at.

Or maybe they were just playing “leap frog”???

The male terns were bringing in fish to temp the ladies. I think this one was hoping one of these two ladies were going to take the bait.

Not sure what this conversation was about. Was she yelling at him to go get a fish?

This osprey had a big fish for breakfast.

A nanday parakeet sitting pretty.

I was hoping to see something new on the trail but only the usual migrating birds were there this morning: a female Cape May warbler, a black and white warbler, a red eyed vireo and a summer tanager.

I stopped in at the North Beach area and as I walked out on the beach I saw these 2 oystercatchers chasing another one away.

The oystercatcher nest was still there and Mom (she is banded with AE bands) was just coming back to the nest after chasing that interloper away with Dad. I could see that she was sitting on 3 eggs. They should hatch soon.

A red breasted merganser was shaking off the water.

A pelican fly by.

Sunrise with some fun birds and a boat race

On July 14, 2025August 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

Another early morning at Fort Desoto Park in mid-April. I had heard there were some fun migrating birds seen in the park the day before so I got there when the park opened.

After stopping at a few areas known for migrating birds I finally made it out to the area where the birds were being seen. One side of the beach was full of people here for a paddle boat race. Luckily the birds I was looking for would not be on the beach and would be hidden in the bushes nearby.

For once I got lucky and saw the birds I was looking for pretty quickly. There were only a few birders looking around the mangrove bushes and the golden wing warbler was right in front. This is only the 2nd time I’ve heard of one being in the area. I saw it briefly in 2023 and got blurry shots of it.

The worm eating warbler was also there and I got one quick shot of it before it went deep in the bushes. I saw one here last year and had one in my backyard a few years earlier. Both birds were not common migrating birds that we get in the area.

After seeing the worm eating warbler I took a walk farther down the beach and when I got back an hour later a crowd had formed. Everyone was looking for the golden winged warbler. It had gone much deeper in the bushes and I was glad I was able to get some shots when I first got there. It was the weekend and this park gets crowded on the trails during migration. It’s okay because it’s more eyes to see what’s out there.

I could see barn swallows sitting high up on a dead tree farther behind the mangrove bushes. It’s rare to see them sitting.

An osprey flies by with a big stick for his nearby nest.

A little parakeet morning hanky-panky going on.

There wasn’t a large variety of birds this morning. Other than the 2 notable rare birds I first saw I also got shots of a summer tanager and a prairie warbler.

By now the paddle boats were out on the water and were moving fast. I couldn’t tell if it was an official race or a practice for one. It looked like a lot of fun but also a lot of work.

The water was calm when I stopped by the east beach turnaround before leaving looking for more birds (which I didn’t find). What a beautiful morning out.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

So many young ones in the spring.

On July 27, 2024September 1, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I found juvenile northern parulas on the boardwalk at Chesnut Park at the end of April. These two were awkwardly bouncing around in the bushes and Mom was nearby trying to get them to follow her. It looked like she was trying to teach them to feed themselves.

I also found several female common yellowthroats.

More females. These were blackpoll warblers.

A yellow throated warbler was feeding in the moss.

More juveniles. These are either yellow rumped warblers or yellow throated warblers. I never realized how many warblers nested here. There were lots of young ones learning to fly and eat.

This guy was just too cute to pass up.

A tufted titmouse has a yummy caterpillar.

Another female, the redstart was also along the boardwalk.

Black and white warblers are common here.

A pileated woodpecker landed close by and pecked a few times before leaving.

I only saw one deer this morning.

The cypress trees look like they are dying because they are covered in moss.

Flying across the water

On July 15, 2024September 1, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was the end of April and the end of spring migration. There would be a few stragglers coming through until mid-May but the majority of the birds had already come through. You would have to hunt pretty hard to find the late ones and it was already so hot. A lot of Cape May warblers were still around. I took so many pictures of these guys this spring since they were so plentiful and not shy.

I only saw one black throated blue warbler on this morning at Fort Desoto Park.

I saw several more blackpoll warblers. The top 2 are males and the bottom shot is a female.

A redstart was high up in the trees.

After walking the trails I headed out on the beach. I had not gotten to the park in time for sunrise this morning. The terns were still active flying around with fish.

The couple above was flirting and the male had brought the female a fish (their version of buying her dinner or in this case breakfast). She walked around him a few times with it and then gulped it down.

He was ready to mate but she was playing hard to get. They flew off so I’m not sure what happened.

It was windy this morning and before leaving I stopped at the east beach turnaround to watch the kiteboarders for a few minutes. It’s always fun to watch them flying across the water. They make it look so easy but it’s really hard to keep that kite up and stay on the water. I took the above with my camera and zoomed in.

I took these 2 with my phone so you can see how far away they are. A lot of them just getting started near the shore. It’s hard to get them all in one shot since they are all spread out across the water.

Almost the end of spring migration

On July 13, 2024July 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I made another trip to Fort Desoto Park near the end of April to look for migrating birds. This one was easy to find. I heard the Chuck-will’s-widow was near the bay pier. She had been there for several days and people thought she was nesting since she spent most of her time on the ground. They are not rare for the area but they are hardly ever seen. You can see how she blends into the ground. The area where she was hanging out was all roped off so you could see her from a distance. This was my 2nd sighting of one. The first was at the Dry Tortugas on a trip to Key West several years ago. I zoomed in on the 2nd picture because she had the most amazing whiskers across her face. She disappeared after about 2 weeks. She probably thought the area was too busy.

The nearby osprey nest was busy. I walked up right as Mom was feeding the babies.

I saw a lot of juvenile indigo buntings near the fountain. I think the 2nd shot is a female.

More Cape May warblers. They were everywhere this spring. The top 2 are males and the bottom 2 are females.

This was my first time this spring seeing a blackpoll warbler. They usually come through here in the spring but I didn’t see this one until almost the end of migration.

A catbird sits on top of the fountain.

The nanday parakeets were in their usual spots along the east beach trails. This one was eating the mangrove grapes.

I don’t often see pileated woodpeckers here although I hear them along the trails. This one was digging something juicy out of the soft wood.

Two more lifers in one morning.

On June 29, 2024July 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Above is the only picture I got of the yellow breasted chat. I had heard there was one here at Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs last spring but I never made it up here to look for it. This year I had to go since I had never seen one before. It had been reported for 3 days before I got there. Early the first morning I looked for 2 hours with 2 other people and had to leave for a dentist appointment with no sighting. People reported it later in the morning so the next morning I went up a little later (around 8:30am). There were at least 20 other people looking in the area it had been seen the day before. After over an hour it made a brief (above) appearance. After waiting another hour I gave up and went for a walk around the rest of the park. It looks a little like the yellow throated warbler but without the black stripes.

There was a Cape May warbler bouncing around in the area where the chat was. This was a banner spring for Cape Mays. They were everywhere.

I found other usual spring migration birds around the park including a prairie warbler, a hooded warbler, a white eyed vireo and a northern parula.

My 2nd lifer of the morning was a Lincoln’s sparrow. He was on the other side of the park from the chat and was scratching around in the dirt along the mangroves near the water.

Above the Lincoln sparrow was a prairie warbler posing nicely in the bushes.

I saw the painted lady butterfly while we were waiting for the chat to show up.

Two lifers on the same morning

On June 27, 2024July 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

In mid-April I made another trip down to Fort Desoto to look for migrating birds. This time I was looking for a specific bird and I got to the park right when it opened at 7am and went straight to East Beach. The sun was just coming up near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. I had to take a quick shot while I was walking down the beach trail with several other people looking for the same bird.

A very rare piratic flycatcher had been seen on the trail for 2 days in a row. I made it down to the park on the 3rd morning not expecting much. This bird migrates from south Mexico to central America and this is the only one that we know of to have been in Florida (a few sighting have happened in Texas). There were 4 of us staring in the bushes where it was seen the afternoon before. The sun had not come up over the bushes yet but when we saw movement I snapped, not sure if it would be the only time I saw it since it was a lifer for me.

About a half hour later it started to move around in the top of the bushes and we got better views. It moved around from the beach trail to the privet trail and we all kept walking back and forth trying to keep up with it. A little later a large crowd of birders had come to see it so after getting a ton of shots I moved on. The above were taken with my 400mm lens and extremely cropped so we were pretty far away.

Near the flycatcher an osprey was trying to eat his breakfast and didn’t seem to mind the crowd passing by.

As I was walking to my car I saw some people staring up in a tree and walked over to see my first warbling vireo. Another bird that’s not supposed to be in Florida and should be in the western part of the country. He looks a little like a red eyed vireo but the accents on his face aren’t as pronounced.

I passed a young male orchard oriole that had not gotten his brown/rust feathers yet.

Before leaving the park I saw a few other migrating birds including a female hooded warbler and a scarlet tanager.

This pretty box turtle was right off the trail.

More sunrise and birds

On June 20, 2024July 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

Another week in April and another trip down to Fort Desoto Park early in the morning. The beach looks deserted here but there were 20-30 people nearby looking in the bushes for birds.

When I walked out on the beach to get the sunrise picture I noticed a flock of royal terns along the water. It looked like they were pairing up. The males were bringing in fish to give to the ladies and some pairs were doing their mating dance. I didn’t see any actually mating on this morning.

The nanday parakeets were busy in their usual spot along the dead trees on the beach trail.

There wasn’t a lot of migrating birds this morning but I did manage to find a few. An indigo bunting was resting in the mangroves.

Prairie warblers were plentiful this migration.

A male orchard oriole high up in the tree.

We saw this plant with red fruit on it along one of the wooded trails. I don’t remember seeing it before. I think it’s an elliptica yellowwood. Not a Florida native plant but it was pretty. The park has been killing or pulling out all of the non-native plants in the park but they must have missed this one.