A spin around the neighborhood.

On May 23, 2024May 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

It was almost the end of March and I hadn’t been out for a spin around the neighborhood in a while so I hopped on my bike after lunch and took off. The first pond I stopped at had a little alligator floating in the middle.

After taking the picture of the alligator I noticed a pair of anhingas down along the pond. Both the female (with the brown neck) and the male (all black) where fanning out their wings to dry out so they must have been feeding here. I could almost imagine she was smiling at me.

There was a soft shell turtle sunning himself on the other side of the pond.

The next pond I stopped at had the usual birds. A great blue heron taking a break and a little blue heron creeping along the shoreline.

Butterflies were out at the utility field.

The bottlebrush trees were blooming all over the neighborhood. They attract hummingbirds but I didn’t see any this morning. I stopped at a few of them and waited for a while but all I saw were bees. It might have been a little early for hummingbirds to come through but I had heard there were some sighted nearby.

I stopped by the eagle’s nest when I saw the eagle sitting up on the tower. Mom was still hanging around even though she lost her mate and babies in late January (I wrote about what happened in this post). It looked like she had a stick in her talon. She flew to the nest and sat up there for a while. It was really too late for her to re-nest again even though she had a new boyfriend.

The boyfriend was sitting on top of the next tower. He still has some brown in his head. He’s been hanging around for a while. Now it’s mid-May and they are both gone and I will have to wait until late September or October to see if they come back.

Hooting and swimming

On May 11, 2024May 2, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn zoo animals2 Comments

While both of my sisters were here we went to the zoo on an early Monday morning. It was fairly cool that morning and the siamangs (primates) were out playing.

They were hooting very loudly so turn up the volume and play the video. We could here them across the zoo.

It’s always fun to watch the penguins swimming.

We got up close with this grey crowned crane on the backlot tram tour.

The big guys.

The zoo has an underwater viewing area and you can see the manatees swimming around and eating up close.

Taken from the Zoo Tampa website: The David A. Straz, Jr. Manatee Critical Care Center is the first non-profit, acute care facility of its kind specifically dedicated to critical care for wild manatees, and one of just four contracted federally permitted manatee rehabilitation centers in the state of Florida. Since 1991, the manatee care and veterinary team have treated over 400 manatees with more than 230 of those reintroduced into Florida waters.

There were several turtles swimming around in the manatee pools.

In the words of Dory from Finding Nemo – “Just keep swimming”.

Face to face with a dolphin

On May 9, 2024April 30, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Tampa bay sights, zoo animals8 Comments

Look at that face! It’s not often you get this close up to a dolphin. After our dolphin boat tour my sister and I stopped at the nearby Clearwater Marine Aquarium, home of Winter the dolphin who lost his tail (The movie Dolphin Tale was about him and filmed here). They rescue, rehabilitate and house (if needed) permanently injured dolphins, turtles, otters and other sea critters.

This huge turtle had lost his back legs.

This turtle was hit by a boat and lost his ability to submerge properly. He swims around with his butt in the air.

Some of the turtles that are rehabilitating and will be released soon.

A few of the smaller swimmers.

The ladies on the right got to feed the shark that was in the middle. He was obviously a docile shark since he’s fed several times a day.

This is Nicholas and he came right up to the window. He was found as a young baby stranded on Christmas Eve in 2002 and had 3rd degree sunburns on his back. You can still see the scars on his forehead all the way to his fin.

Debbie was sitting in front of the window and both dolphins came to check her out.

A very short video of a dolphin swimming in the big tank.

Before leaving we walked around on the upper deck where you can see Clearwater to the left and Clearwater Beach to the right.

A stop at Swan Lake on the way home

On April 27, 2024April 16, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

While my sisters were visiting in late February we drove over to Disney Spring early for some shopping (mostly looking though and getting a good walk in) and lunch. We decided to break up our 2 hour drive home by stopping at Lake Morton (aka Swan Lake) in Lakeland and get out to look around. There were only 2 baby swans from a black swan couple but there were a lot of nests.

Redheads and ring neck ducks are easy to find in the winter. There were several that were swimming close to the edge of the lake.

A young ring billed gull sits on top of one of the swan food feeders that sit on the edge of the lake. He looked pretty with his matching pink feet and beak.

The usual skittish wood ducks were coming close to the edge of the lake as well. One walked right up on the grass in front of me.

Balance act.

The small pod of white pelicans were still there, napping and preening on the brick wall.

The pink trumpet tree was in full bloom.

Ending the year and starting another with injured birds

On February 17, 2024February 16, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Look at that beautiful face! This poor barred owl had been shot but was making a quick recovery. In late October I picked him up at the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay in Brandon and drove him down to a rehabber in St. Pete. Soon he will be ready to fly free.

A vulture also made the trip. Penny was pulling him out of the back of my car and checking him over. He was found sick and should be released soon.

So many vultures were either sick or getting hit by cars. They feed in the roads eating roadkill so they are sometimes risking their lives for a meal. No one slows down anymore. I made several trips to pick up injured turkey vultures to take to rehabbers in early November.

The above river cooter had been hit by a car Thanksgiving week. A good samaritan picked her up and brought her to the Raptor Center. Overnight she laid an egg. The next morning I drove the cooter and her egg to the Swamp Girl Adventures near Orlando.

This poor red shoulder hawk had an injured eye. Someone found him in their yard and brought him into an emergency vet who called the Raptor Center. I picked him up right away and drove him to Penny in south St. Pete.

The week of Christmas this common loon was found on the ground in the middle of Florida, no where near water. Loons winter here in Florida but in water. I see them often in the gulf or bay on my walks. Loons don’t have the ability to take off from land so if they are on land they are stranded for some reason. He might have gotten blown off course by a bad storm that had recently hit Florida. I drove him from the Raptor Center to Seaside Seabird Sanctuary on Indian Shore beach. They are loon experts and will hopefully have him swimming in the gulf in no time.

I had some time before heading home so I did a quick walk around the seabird sanctuary and followed the above pelican out to the beach. The sanctuary gets a lot of wild birds hanging around looking for a free handout. It was a beautiful but cold windy morning so I got a very rare shot of an empty stretch of beach.

I made a quick trip back to Penny, the rehabber, on Christmas eve with another injured vulture.

The day after New Year I drove a great horned owl that was about to be released down to Penny’s as well as a tiny bat that was found on the ground in someone’s yard. He was named Pop Tart because he was brought in to the Raptor Center in a Pop Tart box. Bats can’t take off from the ground. They need to drop down a few feet to get lift before taking off so if a bat is on the ground it’s probably sick. They eat their weight in mosquitos every night so they are very beneficial to have around. Many people put up bat boxes in their neighborhoods to keep the insect population down. We have a box nearby and I love going out to get the mail right before dark and seeing they flying around.

Rescue trips in the first half of August

On October 23, 2023April 9, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

The Raptor Center of Tampa Bay put out a request for a volunteer to pick up an injured turtle that someone had brought in to a vet. Thinking it may have been hit by a car. This is my first sad trip. I got to the vet office and they told me it had just passed away. It was probably in bad shape when it was brought it. As I was fighting back the tears they said “We do have an injured duck. Can you take that to a rehabber?” My response was “Of course”

So this cutie made the trip to the Raptor Center all alone. It looked a little scratched up but otherwise in good shape.

This little wide eyed cutie made the trip from the Raptor Center to a rehabber near St. Pete. Paula at Crikey Wildlife Rescue specializes in rehabbing and releasing raccoons and squirrels. She has had the rabies vaccine and can work with older raccoons, although rabies is fairly rare in our area (only 1 case this year and zero last year in Pinellas county).

I had a carload of red shoulder hawks in the back of my SUV on this trip. Two had been brought in on the same day and both had been shot. The third one had an injured wing.

Nancy from the Raptor Center was able to get them x-ray’d to confirm that the 2 had been shot. Above is one of the x-rays. You can see the tiny bullet near the end of his wing. Who does that? Maybe the hawks were stealing chickens from a farmer or backyard? I would hate to think they were just randomly shot but it could happen.

All three were headed to a vet in Nokomis (south of Sarasota), about an hour away from the Raptor Center. The vet works with wildlife and was going to take the bullets out of the 2 and look at the other one with an injured wing. Since they would stay overnight I just dropped them off and someone nearby was bringing them back later.

The vet was 10 minutes from Nokomis beach so I stopped and got out for a few minutes to stretch my legs before heading home (it would be close to 2 hours to get back to my house). It would have been a perfect morning if it wasn’t so hot. I should have brought my swimsuit and gone for a dip.

Heading over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to get back home. Not much traffic this morning (which is rare).

This tiny young squirrel was brought into a vet one morning. I picked him up and headed straight to the rehabber Penny in south St. Pete.

In mid-August we had a bad storm move through the area and the next day there were quite a few baby squirrels that were brought in. Nests or babies falling from trees in the storm. I drove out to the Raptor Center in Brandon and picked up a large box of squirrels. All different ages and they were huddled together for warmth. They were all going to Penny in south St. Pete to grow up and eventually get released.

A crow with an injured wing also made the trip. He yelled the entire trip.

I had heard there was a rare Egyptian goose that had showed up in the area near where Penny lives. Since I was going to be down there I threw my camera in the car and after dropping off the squirrels and crow I headed to the nearby lake. He was very easy to find. I pulled over and snapped a couple of shots before heading home. This was the first time I have heard of them being in Pinellas county. They are populated all over south Florida, especially in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. I couldn’t find any definite information on whether they were released on purpose or escapees from a zoo. They have been sighted in Florida since the 80’s. They are invasive like the muscovy ducks and I’m sure the neighbors hope it doesn’t have a mate.

May in the backyard

On August 14, 2023April 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

It was mid-May and the backyard was blooming. The hanging shrimp plant really made the backyard pop. Bees were always visiting it but one day I was out with my camera and caught the tiny moth on the underside of the petals.

The titmouse was watching the big ants inside the hummingbird feeder. He was trying to understand why he couldn’t get to them (I have since changed to a bigger hummingbird feeder and the ants don’t seem to get on the new one as much).

The juvenile titmouse were usually on the feeder but this morning I saw them bouncing around the small palm tree up against our house.

We still had northern parulas in late May.

Mom Carolina wren was calling her young ones to follow her. She was sitting on our garage roof and I could see her through the kitchen window.

Her two almost grown babies were playing around in the small tree in front of our kitchen window. One came close to the window and stared at me. I can still see a little baby yellow around the beak.

I’m always looking out the back window to see if any critters are cruising by and one day I saw a turtle walking down the fairway. He eventually made it over to the pond. I could see the silhouette of a bluebird behind him.

An almost cloudless sunset. We’ve gotten a little rain since May but not much.

I was sitting at the pool reading and looked up and saw the sun halo.

Downtown St. Pete parks

On July 28, 2022March 22, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

You can always find turtles chilling on the trash bumpers at Crescent Lake Park near downtown St. Pete.

I found some cute duckies walking along the sidewalk.

Usual birds around the lake include the loggerhead shrike, a roseate spoonbill and an anhinga drying out.

I found an unusual pair of birds sitting in front of my car, northern rough winged swallows. I’ve seen them in other parks before but they are fairly rare.

A cloudy morning at the park.

The big banyan tree has been fenced in for several years now. They are trying to keep it alive since it’s so old (not sure how old though). It’s taken a beating over the years with people climbing and playing on it.

It looked like it has snowed along the street in front of the park. I realized there were several cottonwood trees in someone’s yard. I had never noticed this before so I must not have been here when they were blooming. I’m sure it’s beautiful when it’s in full bloom but what a mess it was in the street and yard.

After leaving the park I stopped by Rouse park on the bay in St Pete, only a few minutes away. The royal poinciana trees were blooming and the are a lot of them in this small park.

Enjoying an early morning on the bay in late May.

A walk around a lake

On June 20, 2022June 9, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

The young black swans were almost grown up in late April although they were half the size of the parents and still fuzzy gray. I stopped by Lake Morton on the way home from Bot Tower Gardens and did a walk around the lake before heading home.

This black swan was still sitting on eggs. It looks like she had 3 of them.

There were lots of young mute swans at various ages as well.

This mute swan was checking out her eggs.

Some of the swans were still flirting.

There was a small flock of white pelicans still hanging around. I didn’t think they stayed here all year round but they should have headed north by now. I love those pink and orange beaks.

Even the laughing gulls were flirting. It’s weird to see gulls at this lake since it’s in the middle of the state but there’s always a lot of them here. Maybe because people feed the ducks and swans so the gulls are trying to get a free handout.

A baby moorhen walking around in the grass with those big feet.

I heard some noise near the top of the cypress trees and realized there was a great blue heron nest up there with some almost grown babies.

A turtle posing for me.

The annual trip to the Tampa rookery

On May 13, 2021May 3, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

As soon as I got to the bird rookery in north Tampa in late April I look over and see a muscovy duck family resting in the shade. I snapped a couple of pictures and then realized they see me. They all popped up and came running over to me. “Not going to happen guys” I said. I’m not feeding them although I’m sure people who live in the nearby neighborhood do. After they realized I wasn’t going to feed them they got in the water and took off for a swim.

The wood storks were flying into the pond right near where I was standing and while getting a sip of water this one found a good stick to take back to the nest. He’s looking at me like “What do you think of my stick?”. I’m thinking “She’s going to kick you off the nest if you come back with that tiny stick.”