Tag: vulture

Driving around in June and July

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

The first week in June I had a red shoulder hawk in my car. This beauty had been sick and was rescued and rehabilitated at Moccasin Lake Park and was going back to the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay to stay in the flight cage for a few days to build up his wing strength before being released.

Three days later a baby Cooper’s hawk and a sick red tail hawk also made their way to the Raptor Center. Look at those big talons on the red tail hawk!

The next week I had a full car load. I picked up a sick vulture that had been rescued north of where I live and then headed to the Raptor Center to pick up more critters.

A pair of baby doves, a sick blue jay and a young pileated woodpecker all got loaded in my car to make their way to Penny, the rehabber in south St. Pete.

A pouch of juvenile possums also came along.

A few days later a juvenile swallow tail kite was rescued close to my house so I picked it up and drove it over to the Raptor Center. The brown specks on his head and white specks on his wings will go away when he is fully grown. He was also not old enough to have his “swallow” split tail.

I got a call that there was a kestrel with an injured wing on the ground at the Tampa airport. The airport maintenance guys were able to catch it and called the Raptor Center. I was able to meet them at the cell phone parking lot and drive it to the center.  Nancy thinks the wing will be able to heal.

At the end of June I was transporting a hawk, a barred owl and 4 screech owls that had been to a vet and was going back to the Raptor Center. They were having a fundraiser near my house so I met them there at the end of the event to hand off the injured birds. They had brought their ambassador kestrel and great horned owl and had a crowd of people who were curious about the birds.

At the beginning of July I was heading down to south St. Pete to take some critters to Penny, the rehabber and the above peacock also made the trip. The peacock had been found nearby with an injured leg and the Raptor Center was sending it to a peacock expert rehabber in nearby Clearwater. Peacocks roam freely all over the Tampa bay area and get a bad rap. People don’t like them because they are loud and messy so they tend to get “injured” around the area. I recently wrote about them in this post. 

I had to laugh as I was heading down Penny’s street a peacock walked right in front of my car.  I was going slow but it might not have been lucky if someone was speeding through this neighborhood.

This was my cargo that morning. Three baby possums.

A week later I transported 3 screech owls to the Raptor Center that had been rescued.

 

Being a tourist in my town

On By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Tampa bay sights9 Comments

I finally made it to the Tampa airport to see the big flamingo statue. It’s really big and right in the middle of the airport.  I was there picking up my sisters. Both were in town for a week of Florida fun. We had a busy week doing tourist things and eating a lot.

Our first stop was the Manatee Viewing Center at the electric plant. They had put in a new dock that goes half way across the channel. The electric plant seemed so big seeing it this close.

It was much better seeing the manatees close up as they swam under the dock to get to the inside of the channel. The view from the old deck (which is still there) is much farther away. Since it was late February and the water had been cold there were hundreds of manatees in the channel that stays warm from the water flowing out of the electric plant.

I was hoping to see some birds here. Last time I saw an eagle but this time I only got a turkey vulture.

After a morning watching the manatees swim by we headed into Tampa to eat lunch at the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City.

One morning we headed up to Tarpon Springs to walk along the docks and shops and get some Greek food for lunch. We ate at the famous Hellas Restaurant and then stopped in their bakery to get some desserts to take home.

One day we drove over to Orlando to go to Disney Springs for lunch. Debbie and I were hamming it up with Tigger.

On Debbie’s last day we spent the morning at Honeymoon Island looking for shells. I was tired from the week and took a break on the sand while she continued to look for shells. Somehow she fit a box of shells in her carry-on bag.

We did much more but I’ll save that for later.

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It was too early for manatees.

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

The water at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park was so clear you could see the fish.

We had a small cold spell in mid-November and I headed up to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park hoping to see manatees along the boardwalk at the park. They congregate in the springs along the park in the winter where the water stays fairly warm. The morning I was there the river was void of wild manatees. The only ones I saw were the 2 living there that were rehabilitating at the park. They were right up against the boardwalk so it was great to see them up close. I think I was just too early for the wild ones to have made their way to the springs.

The otters were so cute that morning. The vultures were hanging out in their exhibit and driving them crazy.

The view from the boardwalk.

The same things from a different park

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I headed down to Fort Desoto early one Saturday morning only to find it was closed for a marathon. So I decided to head to a park I had not been before. Maximo Park sits on the water right next to the interstate and was only minutes away from Fort Desoto. I had not been here before but had not heard much about it. It’s a small park near a marina and the people were lined up at the boat ramp to get their boats in for the day. Across the bay you can see the new bridge near Fort Desoto going up. You can buy bait fish right out of the water (for the lazy people who don’t want to pull their own bait fish up with a net).

It was a quiet day for birds but above are a few that I found including the vulture sunning himself.

Was it starting to look like fall? Looks like poison ivy with those red leaves of 3.

I stopped by Sawgrass Lake Park on the way home for a quick walk and saw this soft shell turtle crossing the parking lot. A man came over and picked him and moved him on his way. It’s rare to see these guys out of the water up close. They are usually pretty skittish.

This is one spoiled duck.

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Waiting out the rain

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

Walking down Marsh Rabbit Run trail at Circle B Bar Reserve in early June. Not much along the trails but gators. I had a rare day off in the week and the reserve was quiet. And, the threat of rain kept people at home.

As I got down to the end of the trail (as far away from my car as possible) the dark clouds were moving in fast.

I quickly ducked under the small rain shelter as the bottom fell out. That was fine. I’ll rest here for a while until it stops.

It started pouring sideways and the rain was coming into the shelter which has a roof but no walls. I had my small umbrella in my backpack that I pulled out but I was still getting soaked from the waist down. There was no one else around except for my friend Henry, the great blue heron, who stayed near the shelter during the pour.

I played games on my phone for a while and took a lot of pictures and after almost an hour of pouring, it dwindled down to a light sprinkle and I headed back down the trail back to the parking lot.

The birds along the trail were all wet. By the time I got back to main trail to the nature center, the sun was coming out and  people were coming in looking at me like I was a wet rat. It was still a fun morning.

SkyWatch Friday

 

Annual trip to the electric plant

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights4 Comments

After a really cold week, I headed over to the TECO (Tampa Electric Co) plant to see the manatees that hang out there in the winter. The warm water coming off the electric plant in the lagoon keeps the manatees warm during the coldest weeks. Years ago, the plant built a manatee viewing center with a big deck that wraps around part of the lagoon. All of those dots in the water are manatees. There were hundreds of them the morning I was there in late January.

The plant says that the smoke coming out of the stack is actually clean steam.  It doesn’t feel smoky when you are there and the sky was clear blue.

Part of the deck overlooking the lagoon. This was still early in the day before the big crowds get here. I got here well before they opened at 10am and waiting in line to park and was out before lunch. They can get crazy crowded and parking is a challenge when the manatees are here in large numbers. The news channels report on them when there’s been a prolonged cold spell so everyone heads over including me.

Some of the birds around the plant.  White pelicans were flying high, a young night heron flew by the deck and a vulture was sitting on a platform built for an osprey nest.

Down at the very end of the lagoon, it’s roped off so boaters or kayakers cannot follow the manatees into the area. There is no swimming with the manatees here.

There’s usually some stingrays splashing around.

I took a ton of manatee pictures so more to come on those.

SkyWatch Friday

 

Checking on the nests at Honeymoon Island

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

True to its name, the Osprey Trail on Honeymoon Island is known for having a lot of Osprey along the trail. There are many nests along the trail and when I was there in late January, the osprey were working on refreshing the old ones.

Both eagles were sitting in a tree near the nest which was a bad sign. They were sitting on eggs earlier so something must have happened to cause them to abandon the nest. They might try again. It was still early.

Towhees, catbirds and yellow rumped warblers were all along the trail.

Lots of vultures here.

New growth in some of the prescribed burn areas.

This guy walked right in front of me on the trail.

I hadn’t been to Honeymoon Island since last spring. I wanted to see if the osprey were nesting yet. Honeymoon Island is a barrier island north of Clearwater Beach. In the 1940’s the island was a place known for people to spend their honeymoon in the cottages on the island. Once World War 2 started people stopped coming to the island and later the cottages were torn down.

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