Tag: white ibis

Neighborhood critters in late September

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

The summer rains were continuing through September. We had a constant small puddle in between our yard and the golf course. The ibis spent a lot of time taking baths in the puddles. One afternoon I slipped outside to get some shots of them that were not through the window.

The doves preferred to take their baths in the bird bath.

Another bluebird shot with a worm in his beak.

 

Migrating house finches were passing through and stopping by the feeder.

I was coming into the neighborhood one morning and saw a black bellied whistling duck family in the pond at the entrance. I luckily had my camera in the car and pulled over to catch the babies napping.

I sat in my car for a while watching and after a few minutes they got up and waddled over closer to the water. I thought they were going in for a swim but they took another break.  This was the last time I saw them until recently and now they are all grown up.

Summer storms moving through the area. I walked out on the golf course across the street to get that last shot. The sun was just peeking out and turned the sky pink.

Saturday's Critters

Around the yard in early March

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants5 Comments

Things blooming in the front yard in March.

I was taking pictures of the flowers in the front yard and saw this ibis over by the pond across the street. I walked over and realized he had a snack (frog). He flew off with it in his beak.

The great crested flycatchers were back for the summer. I heard them calling when I was taking the garbage can out early one morning and ran in and got my camera. They stayed high up in the trees.

A brown thrasher was also in the trees in the front yard.

Swallow tail kites cruise along the golf course and they don’t hang around for long. I saw this one across the fairway from the window and ran outside with my camera. He flew close and quick right over my head and then flew off over the trees and was gone.

I don’t see snakes often in the yard so I was excited to see this harmless black racer cut across the yard. The first shot was through the window and then I crept outside and was able to get a shot of his face before he slithered under the neighbor’s bushes.

The bunnies have been coming by the back yard since January. They usually come right before dark and don’t stay long.

Nanday parakeets feeding on the bottle brush tree down the street.

Sunset from the front yard and across the street.

The full moon from the backyard in March.

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Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Our first walk at Robinson Preserve

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights3 Comments

In early February Brett and I headed an hour south of us to the Bradenton/Palmetto area to take a walk at Robinson Preserve and have lunch afterwards in the nearby Cortez fishing area. It was cold so we got to the park a little later, around 9am. It was sunny when we first started walking the trail and got to the tall observation tower.

On the top floor we could see all around the area. It’s a large preserve that sits on the bay and the back area facing Sarasota was pretty dried up. In the summer most of the area in the bottom shot would be under water and swampy.

Fiddler crabs covered the little beach area at the bottom of the tower. It was funny to watch them running around chasing each other. They are usually shy and run to their holes when people are around but these did not scatter when I walked up. They are really pretty when the sun hits them, showing off the pink and purple.

We followed the trail around the small lagoon and by the time we got on the other side the sea fog had started to come in.

We made our way out to the beach and the fog kept getting thicker. The Sunshine Skyway bridge was out there somewhere.

The birds were pretty scarce and we only saw a few ibis and snowy egrets feeding out in the fog. We had a long walk back to our car and were starving so it was off to lunch.

SkyWatch Friday

Causeway birds

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

It was a beautiful cool morning in early January during my walk at the Dunedin Causeway.

After my walk I stopped at the lagoon (the end of the first bridge that’s hidden by tall  mangroves). I had my camera in the car and was hoping there would be some shorebirds hiding back there. The above was taken with my phone and that boat looked farther away that it really was.

Zooming in with my camera I could see a belted kingfisher with a tiny fish on the sailboat mast.

After gulping down that first fish he made several passes in front of me before leaving without another fish.

The grumpy reddish egret was there and must have been full from his breakfast because he did not move or attempt to feed while I was there.

The white ibis were busy digging up tiny sea creatures to eat as they walked by me.

The other usual birds were there including a great egret and a great blue heron.

I stopped by a small hidden park near the causeway and noticed a marina in a cove just off the park. From this view it looked like they only had a little roof damage from the hurricanes but it’s hard to tell if the docks were damaged.

SkyWatch Friday

 

A frog invasion and seeing Jane Goodall in person

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

Two does came grazing through our backyard at the end of August. They were getting sips from the newly formed ponds. One looked really skinny.

It had been raining almost every afternoon through most of the summer. At the end of August we had a baby frog invasion. They would show up on our windows after the rain. One day I went outside with my macro lens and they were not skittish.

They were pretty tiny with most being smaller than my thumb. As cute as they were these were not good frogs. They are cuban frogs and are very invasive. They eat the native green tree frogs but will also eat a ton of mosquitoes.  Many locals would say I should have killed them all but I just couldn’t do it. I’m thinking the birds including ibis that we get in our yard will eat a lot of them. I’ve seen many ibis with tiny frogs in their beaks.

Most days we have white ibis cruising through and we had the turkeys coming through in early September.

The doves with their pretty pink toes like to sit on the bird feeder hook waiting for dropped bird seed.

We had a tiny young ring neck snake in our foyer. He must have slid in from the front door or the garage door, maybe when we were bringing in boxes or groceries. He’s harmless and we need snakes to eat the rats so I put a plastic container over him and slide a piece of paper underneath and was able to get him out the front door.

On another note, Jane Goodall was in the area with a speaking appearance and I was able to go with a friend. She is know for her long term research on chimpanzees in Tanzania. She is also known for her conservation work and brought her Roots & Shoots program to the St. Pete Tropicana Field for 2 days. Roots and Shoots is her youth program that has kids working on local conservation projects. One night she gave a speech and filled a good portion of the baseball field.

At 90 years old she gave a great speech. Two quotes I wrote down were “When nature loses, we all lose.” and “Every one of us makes an impact every day.”.

She showed a video clip of when she was releasing a chimp back into the wild and the chimp came back to give her a hug. She spoke about that day and everyone had tears in their eyes.  You can see the video here on Youtube.  

 

Early August in the backyard

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

At the end of July we were getting rain almost every day. We had several little puddles appear in the backyard and one morning I was able to catch the white ibis getting some bugs in the water. It was fun to watch them sloshing around in the ground. We must have some good bugs in the backyard because they were having a feast.

The rabbit made another appearance and I caught him eating the ivy again. He saw me through the window but kept eating for a while.

Cardinals will molt and lose a lot of their feathers and they look scraggly when it happens. This guy had lost all of the feathers around his neck and the back of his head. He was easy to spot for several days.

We had a lot of Carolina wrens this summer. There were several juveniles that stopped by for a bath. They liked resting on some storm debris we hadn’t picked up yet.

We still had ruby throated hummingbirds at the feeder in early August. It was mostly females but I did have a male show up a few times (with the bright red throat).

Another lacewing on the back door.

A young squirrel getting a snack in front of the back door.

A coyote down the street?  What? I knew they were here and I have neighbors that have seen them at night but I had not seen one in the 3 years we have lived here (I did have one on the back patio last year in the middle of the night that I saw on the backdoor camera). I was on my way to the grocery store one morning and saw this guy laying along the sidewalk near the utility field. I luckily had my camera in the car and pulled over and took the above. He just sat there and looked at me. I did talk to a lady walking her small dog that way and told her to watch for it. When I came back from the store I saw him heading into the woods.

More summer skies, all in the backyard.

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Critters in the backyard

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

My neighbor’s hibiscus bush has been blooming for months. I’m always sneaking over to her side of our shared courtyard to take pictures of them.

Every once in a while we have a turkey or two cruising by the backyard.

All of the usual birds have been stopping by. Downy woodpeckers, chickadees, red bellied woodpeckers and blue jays. The above were all taken while I was sitting outside one morning. I sat still in the corner and the usual birds don’t mind coming to visit while I’m out there.

There is almost always a downy woodpecker on the suet feeder. The pine warblers don’t mind and would land on it when the woodpeckers were there.

Bluebirds have been stopping by the bird bath. They started to work on a nest in my nest box but didn’t finish it. I’m not sure why they don’t stay. Is it because they can see me in the window? This is the 3rd spring the box has been put up but no nesting.

A pileated woodpecker stopped by and I went outside to get the above. They stay high up in the trees.

A white ibis digging around under the bird bath.

I saw these ladies through the window right before dark and quietly went outside with my camera. . They were on the other side of the fairway so they would have been too far away to take through the window. They glanced at me for a minute but then kept on going down the course.

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Beautiful faces up close

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights2 Comments

It’s rare to get this close to roseate spoonbills. I see them occasionally in the ponds and ditches around work but they are usually far away. There are several that live in the aviary at the Florida Aquarium and they seem to be comfortable around the crowds. You can’t get close enough to touch them but closer than out in the wild. All are permanently injured with a wing or an eye missing and live here now. They develop more color in their faces as they get older during breeding season. These were all taken with my 200mm lens and cropped.

There are a few other birds there as well such as this ibis trying to eat something that doesn’t look like food.

Views from outside the aquarium.

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Party in the marsh

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

 

This spring we had a drought here in central Florida. The marshes at Circle B Bar Reserve had all dried up except for a tiny few spots. This one marsh still had some water in it so all of the birds were feeding in the same spot. I guess the bugs were plentiful in this spot. I’m not sure how long they stayed there feeding but the morning I was there in late April they were packed in and fighting over space. The crowd was mostly great egrets, snowy egrets and spoonbills but there were a few tricolored herons, little blue herons, great blue herons and green herons.  Oh, also glossy ibis, white ibis and wood storks. It’s been years since we’ve seen that many water birds congregate like that so everyone was taking tons of pictures including me.