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.

In the backyard in June.

Posted on August 12, 2019 by dinajohnston

Starlings took over our backyard a long time ago but this is the first time I noticed them nesting. My neighbor has a dead palm tree that sits up against our fence and for weeks I kept seeing this starling popping her head out of a hole in the side facing our kitchen window. There was also one sitting on the top of the stump most of the time. I never saw any babies poking out but weeks later I saw an adult feeding several young ones in our neighbor’s yard.

It’s that time of the year when mama ducks are cruising the channels with babies.

One morning I saw the above woodpecker in a hole higher up in the dead tree. The woodpecker spent all morning cleaning out this hole so I thought we’d have babies at some point but I think she ended up not staying. A few days later I saw a starling going in the same hole and I haven’t seen the woodpecker since.

We have 2 Bismark palms in our backyard that are about 5 years old and this is the first time I’ve seen something blooming inside of them. It’s weird that they are suppose to be the same tree but the blooms look completely different.

Hibiscus on the side of the yard.

image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup Our World Tuesday Graphic

Backyard visitors this spring.

Posted on August 25, 2018 by dinajohnston

In late spring, I heard some birds screaming in the backyard. I peeked out the bedroom window and saw the above, baby starlings being fed by the parents. I ran and grabbed my camera and took the above through the window. I didn’t want to go outside and spook them. These almost fully grown babies were very aggressive, almost attacking the parents to be fed. This went on for 20 minutes. They must have wiped out all of the worms, bugs and caterpillars we had in the backyard. Maybe I should have scared them off.

This was the last I saw of my neighborhood kingfisher back in late April, sitting on our dock. Hopefully she’ll show back up in late October again.

Now we get a lot of house sparrows on our dock.

A little blue heron walking through our yard.

Blondie and her babies came by the house recently. This beautiful cream colored mallard lives in our neighborhood. She usually has 2 sets of babies each year.

Birds in the city

Posted on September 7, 2016 by dinajohnston

Lots of grackles and starlings around the park.

For years, loggerhead shrikes have been hanging out along the fences at the airport on Davis Islands. Maybe they like the view.

Pano of downtown Tampa, taken from Davis Islands.

Pretty flowers in the summer heat.

A juvenile little blue heron creeping down to the water. Then he flew over to the sign to remind everyone to slow down in the manatee zone.

More sights from my walk around Davis Islands in late July.

In the backyard this spring.

Posted on July 16, 2015 by dinajohnston

Moth on the screen.

A green heron was preening on my neighbor’s sailboat mast.

A house sparrow family living in our dock. This was the 2nd set of babies they had this spring. As they grow up, they hang around the backyard for a while.

These are baby starlings. They were eating bugs in the backyard. I think there is a nest in my neighbor’s oak tree.

An eagle hanging around the neighborhood late in the season. I saw him in late May on the cell phone tower outside of my neighborhood.

A few things in the backyard in late May and early June.

Skywatch Friday

Hungry baby starlings in my backyard

Posted on June 20, 2012 by dinajohnston

We recently re-sodded our backyard. We’ve been watering almost everyday and that seems to bring a lot of worms to the yard. Which also brings a lot of birds looking for worms. My hubby said last Saturday “There’s a lot of birds running around on the ground.” I quickly peeked out and said “Oh, those are starlings.” He noticed that the black birds were feeding the brown birds. He said “Why would the black ones be feeding those other birds?” I took a longer look and said “They’re feeding babies!” We had several parents with at least 10 babies running around the backyard all day. I don’t know where they nested but it must have been close by. The babies looked like they were foraging for food but still kept running to the parent to be fed. They were relentless, constantly screaming at the adults. It was fun to watch them. All above taken through the dining room window. I didn’t want to go outside and scare them away. They looked hungry.

Dina's Wildlife Adventures

Tag Archives: starlings