Rescues in March

On May 18, 2024May 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

In early March I picked up a bald eagle that had an injured wing from the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay in Brandon and drove it down to a vet in south Sarasota that was going to reset the wing and bandage it up. Luckily his wing was broken in a place that was easy to fix.

A wood stork also came on the trip and after dropping off the eagle I drove out to the beach in Sarasota and took him to Save Our Seabirds. He had an injured leg.

Before heading back to the Tampa area I stopped by the Audubon Celery Fields in south Sarasota. I don’t get down here often since it’s so far away but had my camera in the car and stopped for a quick walk. There is a huge purple martin nest house in the parking lot and it was full of martins.

It was the middle of the day and I didn’t expect to see much but they have bird feeders near the nature center and there were some brown headed cowbirds feeding on the ground under the feeders. I don’t see them often.

There were plenty of grackles as well. It was getting hot so I didn’t stay long.

A few days later I took 2 squirrels to Penny in St. Pete. A baby squirrel and a very shy adult squirrel that had several bot fly bites on him. He would not come out from under the towel and I’m assuming he didn’t feel good. All I could see was his little nose. Penny was able to get the bot fly larva out of him and nurse him back to health.

A sick crow also made the trip.

The next week I drove 9 baby possums from the Raptor Center to Penny in St. Pete. The Mom had been hit by a car and these 9 babies were in her pouch. A good samaritan saw the dead possum, stopped and checked the pouch and brought the babies to the Center.

This young hawk was rescued not too far from my house. I met the rescuer and picked up the hawk and drove it out to the Center. Nancy took his hood off and was checking to see how skinny he was.

Winter visitors to the yard.

On March 16, 2024March 7, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Pine warblers have been regular visitors to the backyard this winter. They don’t mind that the woodpeckers are on the suet feeder.

A yellow throated warbler has stopped by only a few times this winter. He doesn’t stay around long. Getting a bite and taking a dip, then he’s gone.

The backyard has been full of yellow rumped warblers.

This year round Carolina wren found a good bug right up against our sunroom door.

Squirrels being cute. It seemed too early for them to be frisky in December but I guess they are frisky all year round here.

I was pressure washing the driveway and saw this guy near our garage door. I dropped everything and went in and got my camera. I rarely see praying mantis so it was cool to have one in my yard. But I didn’t want him to get into the garage so I got a stick and moved him over to the plants.

Later I went outside to see if I could find him and he was still slowly moving around our little courtyard.

Our camelia bush started blooming in mid-December.

Winter skies across the street.

A park and a bike ride

On August 26, 2023August 17, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

In late April I made a quick stop at Chesnut Park to see if there were any migrating birds hanging around. Over the years I’ve seen a lot of warblers come through here during migration but the only thing I found was the usual titmouse. They come really close because people feed them here. They come down close to the boardwalk to see if you have snacks. Once they realize you aren’t carrying they head back up to the tops of the trees.

The squirrels are also being fed here so they check you out as well.

I came home and it was still to early for lunch so I hopped on my bike and went for a quick pedal around the neighborhood. The first thing I saw was a bunny. A brown thrasher flew in front of me as I was taking a picture of the bunny. Was he posing for me?

I found a limpkin in the pond down the street from our house in the same spot the limpkin babies were last year. The water was much lower this year and at first I only saw the adult. He was calling to another limpkin that was farther down the creek.

I left my bike in the bushes and followed the creek along the golf course (no one was playing at the time) and saw another adult limpkin far in the woods. I could just barely make out a baby in the sticks. They stayed pretty hidden and eventually worked their way down behind the houses so I couldn’t follow them any farther. I’m assuming they were farther back since the water was a little higher there.

And, a random alligator that I saw in the neighborhood. This was taken with my 300mm lens and cropped so he was pretty far away.

The backyard in early May

On July 24, 2023April 5, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography9 Comments

My neighbor’s plumeria plant was blooming in early May. I was able to snap the above before the squirrels ate them.

The young Carolina wrens were looking for food in the bushes. Mom was still feeding them bugs. The young ones are as big as Mom but they still have a lot of yellow around their beaks.

I hadn’t been seeing many bluebirds in the backyard (I think they have been nesting). I saw this young one sitting on our feeder and then others started showing up again.

The first week in May was the last time I saw a parula. They must all be north for the summer (I don’t blame them although this year it may be just as hot up there).

By early May I was getting hummingbirds every day at the feeder. The male only showed up the first few days and now I only see females.

The squirrels were still getting frisky.

By now the only birds coming to the suet were woodpeckers and blue jays. Once this one was gone I took the basket down for the summer.

A butterfly on the lantana basket.

The sunset shining through the moss across the street.

The backyard in late February

On April 1, 2023March 29, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Not an April Fools with this couple. I was looking out the front window and caught this squirrel couple getting frisky. I ran upstairs as they crossed the roof and got an eyeful as they were frisky on the peak of the garage roof.

We already have so many squirrels in the backyard and now I saw this Mom with her young one. At least I think it was a young one. The one on the right was half the size of the one on the left.

They have been hanging out on our back porch chair for a while.

White ibis eating around our bushes in late February.

The pine warblers, catbirds and titmouse were still visiting the backyard but now the pine, palms and yellow rumped warblers as well as the catbirds are all gone. The titmouse are here all year long.

The butterflies really like the lantana plant in the backyard.

I can’t believe it’s April 1st. We really didn’t get a good spring although we got a quick cold spell for a few days in mid-March. It’s now in the mid to high 80’s every day until forever (okay at least till November but it will feel like forever) but the humidity isn’t too bad yet. Today is my brother-in-law’s birthday. Debbie, tell Dave I said Happy Birthday!

In the yard in January

On January 31, 2022March 16, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals1 Comment

I pulled back the curtains one recent morning and saw deer in my neighbor’s yard. I tried to quietly crack the door open so I could take some pictures. They eventually saw me but kept on eating in the area.

I went back inside and a few minutes later I saw them heading across the golf course and towards the woods (the golfers would be coming through soon). I snapped the above with my phone. You can just see the last deer (to the left of the tree) as they left. They never seem to stay in one spot long, always moving around and always close to the woods.

For early January, the squirrels were already getting frisky. One is always snoozing on the broken branch. All taken through the window.

Yes, we are getting blooms in January. The temperature this month fluxuates between 78 degrees and 50 degrees.

We had an ibis hanging around the back door and a juvenile blue heron grabbing a frog at the end of our driveway.

Beautiful skies with the sunset in the front pond as I was getting the mail. One night I saw the red clouds and ran out on the golf course right before dark.

Working from home

On September 13, 2021March 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

More storms were coming in mid-July. It had been raining for days and Thunderstorm Elsa was about to hit the Tampa bay area in the middle of the night. Earlier in the afternoon, it had been upgraded to a Hurricane 1 but we got lucky and the storm fell apart right before it hit and we only got rain. Two days before, the city was getting ready for the storms and moved all of the cranes working along the Howard Frankland bridge closer into the bay. They tied them all together to create one big crane raft. It was weird to see driving across the bridge. I crossed this bridge everyday for 18 years going to work but now I rarely do since I’ve been working from home.

With all of the rain we had, mushrooms were popping up everywhere around the neighborhood. The orange ones were in our mulch.

This guy was squirming his way across the driveway.

One morning before work I went for a quick walk in the neighborhood. I saw this muscovy duck sitting high up in a tree. I’ve seen them in trees before but not usually that high up. Then I saw the egg sitting right where the branches split off. Sadly it probably fell at some point.

Back at my house, we had 4 ducks hanging out in our backyard for several days. I think they were looking for fallen bird seed. The doves usually eat that pretty quick so there isn’t much left for the ducks.

While sitting at my desk in the bedroom I had been seeing this lizard walking across the screen almost every day for a week. She has that same short tail so I knew it was the same one. She kept me company for a while. Of course one day I had to stand up and snap a picture.

Then one day I saw this. I guess she found a boyfriend. After this I didn’t see her again. I miss that short tailed lizard.

At lunch I can usually catch squirrels chasing each other across our screened porch. While it’s cute, long term they can do damage to the screens so I try and chase them off but it doesn’t always work.

I’m still working from home. We were suppose to go back in the office, at least part time, in the middle of this month but it has been pushed out to early 2022. I don’t miss sitting in traffic, especially crossing that bridge for 45 minutes every night. If it was crawling, I would look for dolphins or count the osprey eating fish on the light posts (22 was the highest count several years ago). I don’t miss seeing my co-workers since we have video calls on Teams several times a day.

Saturday morning at the botanical gardens

On August 9, 2021March 11, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Pretty things at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo at the end of May.

Little critters.

Squirrels were busy eating fruit all over the gardens.

The squirrel in the two bottom pictures were eating the above. A lychee tree. My husband grew up eating his Mom’s homemade lychee ice cream but you don’t really see it here in central Florida.

A very young titmouse was following Mom around. She was trying to get him to feed himself but he just kept yelling for her to feed him.

A green heron creeping along a branch in the parking lot.

The sun coming through a papaya tree.

Are there babies yet?

On April 13, 2021March 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

The trees were still bright red in early February, showing a pop of color across the pond.

The usual birds were still at Possum Branch Preserve. A grebe and a tricolored heron were easy to photograph.

We had a new visitor to the pond. A few glossy ibis showed up. It’s the first time I’ve seen a glossy ibis in this part of Pinellas county and the first I’ve heard of one being at this pond. They were pretty skittish but one let me get some good shots when I hid behind the tree. He was busy eating the pond bugs.

I stopped by a nearby park to see if the great horned owls were still nesting. It was quiet this morning and the other photographers there thought there were babies but no one has seen them yet. I was thinking it was a little early anyway. When I got home and cropped up the shot of the mom sleeping in the nest, I could just make out some white fuzz under her chin so there was at least one baby in the nest. It was going to be a while before we really got to see anything.