Yellow birds at Fort Desoto

On April 13, 2015April 13, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

All above are white eyed vireos. Fairly common during migration.

All of these are of a hooded warbler. The park was filled with these bright yellow birds with black hoods. They were not shy and would not freak out and fly into the bushes. They remained on the trail as long as no one got too close.

I saw one prairie warbler at the park.

A single yellow throated warbler. I don’t see these too often.

It poured the last Friday in March. I never get that lucky. Usually, it pours early in the week and by the time I get out to the parks, the birds are gone. This time I got up early on Saturday and headed down to Fort Desoto. Not a big fall out but still enough birds to keep everyone entertained. I think there was possibly more people than birds though. I’m hoping this is only the first fall out for spring migration this year. It’s still early.

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Almost the end of spring migration – Skywatch Friday

On June 5, 2014May 25, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography10 Comments

A rose breasted grosbeak chowing on mulberries.

My first Tennessee warbler.

Bay breasted warbler. This one is fairly rare around here, even during migration.

I can’t remember what this is. Probably just a yellow rumped warbler.

American redstart.

I can’t remember what this is either. I think a red eyed vireo.

Black throated blue warbler.

Prothonotary warbler

Scarlet tanager with a snack in his beak.

I think this is a blue grosbeak. He had some brown on his feathers.

Cardinal with a half eaten grasshopper.

A nanday (black hooded) parakeet showed up in the middle of the little migrating birds. He was looking around like “What are all of these people doing in the woods?” He didn’t stay long.

It was early May and spring migration was still going on. The little birds were passing through on their way up north for the summer. Another Saturday morning with the trails packed with people. I saw my first Tennessee warbler this morning. I know I should have been more excited but really, they are all starting to look alike. Now that it’s June, not a soul is on the trails except mosquitos but the beaches are packed with tourists.

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Which blue bird is it?

On June 2, 2014June 3, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography16 Comments

Indigo bunting in the flowers.

A female something. I was told this is a female blue grosbeak. It looks like it but it also looks a little like a female indigo bunting.

People were saying this was a blue grosbeak. It looks just like an indigo bunting to me. In my Stokes Birding Guide, the blue grosbeak has brown in his feathers.

Another blue bird. Grosbeak or bunting?

Female blue grosbeak?

This one is easy. A male painted bunting on a rusted fence.

I’m going with indigo bunting on both above and below.

More pictures from spring migration at Fort Desoto. These little blue birds are throwing me off. There was flashes of blue everywhere. Both indigo buntings and blue grosbeak with a few painted buntings thrown in. People were saying this and that was a blue “something”. They all look like indigo buntings now that I have gone back and looked them up. The female indigo doesn’t have the darker brown feathers that the female blue grosbeak has so I’m pretty sure the females are grosbeaks. Way too much work for a hobby. Anyway, most of the migrating birds are gone. Now all we are left with are the usual summer birds.

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Migration can be a pain in the neck – Skywatch Friday

On May 15, 2014May 11, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

My first blackpoll warbler of the season.

Cape May warblers were everywhere.

Red-eyed vireo.

A first-summer male orchard oriole with mulberry stains on his chest.

I think this is a female orchard oriole.

I think this is a first year female Baltimore oriole.

Another red-eyed vireo.

I saw one northern Parula that morning.

Baltimore oriole.

My first black throated green warbler.

A male orchard oriole taking a berry break.

Prairie warbler doing some weird acrobats.

Bye,bye, orchard oriole.

A female rose breasted grosbeak.

It was a busy day in mid-April. A big fall out day. Spring migration was in full swing and I knew I’d come home with a neck ache from staring up in the trees all morning. I was right. Birds were everywhere but they did not sit still very long. There were almost as many people at Fort Desoto that morning. Everyone was yelling out bird names: “there goes a female blah blah”, ” I just saw an immature male blah blah”, ” has anyone seen the yellow blah blah?” All of the little birds were starting to looking alike, especially the yellow and brown ones. Let me know if I got any of the above wrong. People had driven from all over the state to check birds off their list. I met a ton of new people and ran into people I hadn’t seen since the last migration. It was catch up day. The next couple of weekends still had a few birds but not like this big weekend. I also saw a lot of little red birds and blue birds. More on those later.

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We got fallout – Skywatch Friday

On May 1, 2014April 30, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography12 Comments

My first cedar waxwing of the year. There were several in the bush and this was all I got.

I think this is a female orchard oriole. With berry stains on her beak, looking at me.

Same as above.

One of the few male summer tanager sightings I saw.

Another yellow bird. I’m still going with female orchard oriole.

Same as above.

An immature rose breasted grosbeak with berry stains on his chest.

An immature male orchard oriole.

Eastern kingbird all covered in berry stains.

A male orchard oriole.

A summer tanager with a bug in his beak.

Hooded warbler with a bee in his beak.

A prothonotary warbler so busy eating he didn’t even notice us.

A few seconds later he looks up, all covered in berry juice.

A crow chasing all of the little birds away from the fountain.

What a busy morning. In mid-April we got spring migration fall out at Fort Desoto. We had storms earlier in the week but the birds stayed put through the weekend. I was expecting to show up at the park and only see cardinals. Birds were busy hopping from bush to tree and back. Most were eating the mulberries but some were also eating bugs. You really had to pay attention to get pictures for the few seconds they sit still which is hard to do when you keep running into people you haven’t seen since last spring migration and you want to catch up. There were a lot of people on the trails but everyone was nice and pointed out what they were seeing. There were lots of bird experts there and I was going to try to take notes but I was afraid I’d miss something if I stopped to write something down. April was a busy month so I’ll have more little bright bird pictures. If I got any of these wrong, please let me know.

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Two firsts as spring migration winds down

On June 4, 2013June 4, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography17 Comments

Some type of yellow bird high up in the trees.

My first black throated blue warbler.

There were several of them at the park.

I think this is a female cape may.

A female orchard oriole.

My first blackpoll warbler with a berry in his mouth.

Another blackpoll getting ready to eat.

My second sighting of a cape may warbler.

Another female something?

Spring migration was winding down but I had heard there were still a few more birds at Fort Desoto so I headed down there after work one night in late April. I had about an hour and a half before dark so I stayed in one place to see what I could find there. I was at the mulberry bushes with several other people. Everyone was looking for the black whiskered vireo that had been sighted there for several days. No luck that night on the vireo but I did get some other first sightings in. There were several pale yellow birds there and everyone had different opinions about what female they were. After studying the hundreds of pages of these female warblers in my Stokes Birding Guide, I gave up. Any id’s would be appreciated.

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Berry little birds

On April 30, 2013April 30, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography16 Comments

White eyed vireos were all around Fort Desoto.

My very first red-eyed vireo. His beak was stained red from the berries.

Prothonotary warbler all covered in berry juice.

Another one getting ready to chow on the berries.

He’s going to need a bath after this feast.

Orchard oriole getting a bite.

Another oriole high up in the tree.

Even the squirrels were eating the berries.

The mulberry bush area at Fort Desoto was a fly-in fast food place in mid April for birds migrating north. I had never even heard of a mulberry until last year when I kept hearing about the bird traffic at the mulberry bushes at Fort Desoto. I’ve never eaten one but they look like they would taste like a raspberry or blackberry. One interesting thing I read about them on Wikipedia is that some North American cities have banned the planting of mulberries because of the large amounts of pollen they produce, posing a potential health hazard for some pollen allergy sufferers. No wonder I kept coming home with nose bleeds after spending hours walking around the bushes.

This was the 2nd weekend I had spent at the park looking for little birds. This day I was able to see my first red-eyed vireo. I was getting bird nerd neck pain from staring up in the trees for hours at time. That’s okay, small price to pay for seeing these beautiful fun birds. I can spend the rest of the summer resting on a float in the gulf recouping as the dolphins and manatees swim by (all while keeping an eye out for stingrays and sharks).

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Rainbow of birds for spring migration

On April 16, 2013April 16, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography19 Comments

I think the indigo bunting was my favorite bird of the day. Last spring I could not get a decent picture of him. When I first got the woods I saw a flash of blue and didn’t see him again for a while. Later, while standing in front of the fountain talking to some other birders, he landed right on the base of the fountain. He bounced around for at least 10 minutes from branch to fountain.

I totally blew this shot out. I had been taking pictures of birds deep in the bushes early in the morning and had my ISO too high. When I drove over to the other section of woods, as soon as I got out of the car I saw the scarlet tanager in the tree and immediately started snapping. Then I realized he was in full sun and I hadn’t lowered my ISO. A second later he flew off. So the shot overall is too bright but I’m just glad I got him.

This one I took right into the sun and then had to blow out to get the details. I think this is another scarlet tanager but we had heard there were summers around and I was hoping it was a summer instead. I can’t really see his wings in this picture to tell. Any experts have an opinion?

Later in the morning, when I came back to the mulberry bushes, they were full of orchard orioles. I only saw males while I was there. They were all busy eating the berries.

Another one with berries pieces in his beak.

Not a good picture but it was the only one I got of an american redstart.

Is this a gray kingbird or an eastern kingbird? People were calling it both. All About Birds does not even show a gray kingbird in their list, only the eastern. He was flying back and forth between the mulberry bushes with some lunch left on his beak.

My first red eyed vireo.

I thought this was a red eyed vireo at first. I’m thinking it’s the same bird as the picture before it and that I just couldn’t see it’s red eye. It also looks like a female redstart.

The very common gray catbird. The mulberry bushes were full of them. This one had red all over his face from eating the berries. What a feast.

The mulberry bushes at the trails have signs posted saying “Do not pick the fruit.” Just in case a tourist wanted to have a snack and wipe out an entire bush. The birds migrating through in spring count on these bushes for fuel to get them home up north. They are exhausted and hungry when they stop by Fort Desoto for a rest. The bushes were full of birds in early April. They were all busy eating and most birds had a little berry juice stained on their beaks and faces. Most of these pictures were taken standing in front of the big mulberry bushes or at the water fountain so I didn’t have to travel far. Just stand in one place and have patience (which I don’t have a lot of).

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Little yellow birds invade Fort Desoto

On April 9, 2013April 9, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography15 Comments

Hooded warblers were everywhere. They were walking around in the grass and posing for everyone. I saw this bird last year but never got a shot so this is my first official hooded warbler shot.

Prairie warblers aren’t too common. There were many of these on the east beach trails.

After I cropped this up I realized there were tiny white bugs all over the leaves. I think that’s what he was eating.

White eyed vireos are common during spring migration.

This one was trying to hide in the fir trees.

Yellow throated warblers were common around the ranger’s house this weekend.

My very first prothonotary warbler.

He was posing for me right when I hit the trail that morning.

Central west Florida had a small fall-out this past weekend. A big storm came through the Tampa Bay area on Thursday and by Friday afternoon, people were posting great migrating birds all over the area. The most populated seemed to be at Fort Desoto so I headed down there early Saturday morning. I skipped the beach and went straight to the woods. I spent over 4 hours looking for little birds in the bushes and trees. Of course, everyone else had the same idea so it was pretty crowded on trails. Everyone was so nice pointing out things they had seen. I do not know my little birds very well and usually shoot first and look up species later. Saturday I left knowing all but one bird that I had taken pictures of. It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of new people and ran into a few old friends I haven’t seen in a long time. I also saw a few red and blue birds that aren’t cardinals or blue jays so I’ll post those later.

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End of my spring migration at Fort DeSoto

On June 4, 2012October 5, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography22 Comments

I don’t know what this is. It looks bigger than a yellow rumped warbler. It was bathing at the fountain. Could it be a female American redstart? It looks like one from the Stokes Birding Guide. If so, it’s my first one.

Orange eating an orange. Baltimore oriole at one of the fruit feeders.

I think this is a wood thrush. He was sitting on the bottom of the fountain.

My first and only indigo bunting shot. I saw a few others from really far away but this was the only one that got close to us at the fountain.

Starling taking a bath.

I was told this is a yellow warbler. This was my first sighting of one. I agree with Deb’s comment on this one. It looks more like a female hooded warbler than a yellow one. It’s still a lifer either way.

About a tenth of the crowd that was gathering at the mulberry woods at Fort Desoto. There’s a small open field with a short stone fountain in the middle. Everyone was standing around waiting for birds to land on the fountain. I only had my long lens that morning so I could only get a small smattering of the crowd that was there.

I can say I was there! Two weekends during the 2012 spring migration at Fort Desoto. I met tons of people. Learned a lot of new little birds. And took thousands of bad pictures. Ron at Pinellas Birds said the week before Memorial Day that it was winding down. There were still a few late migraters coming through though so I’ll still head out and keep my eyes open. Now I can’t wait until fall migration.

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