Limpkins were kung fu fighting.

On May 31, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I was out at Largo Nature Preserve in mid-March just as the sun was up over the trees. It was a little chilly and you could see the reflection of the trees and sun over the mist on the small lake.

Yellow crowned night herons are common along the boardwalk and they nest in the trees on the lake. This one kept getting spooked by people walking by.

A green heron with beautiful pink legs was calling out to it’s mate.

After my lap on the boardwalk I walked out on the paved trail. As I came around the corner I saw 2 limpkins on the ground. At first I thought they were hurt or were they mating? They seemed to be fighting. Maybe it was a territorial dispute. They kept poking each other in the chest with their feet. It went on for a few minutes and then someone was walking towards them from the other side and they broke up.

They fought a few more times as they broke up and walked over to the water. Then one flew off down the canal. I guess the remaining one was the winner. They both looked uninjured.

A mirror image of a snowy egret getting a snack.

A soft shell turtle coming up for air.

Was it fall or spring in central Florida? The maple tree was turning red in March.

A cold cloudy walk along the waterfront

On April 2, 2025May 11, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

I love these winter mornings in mid-January. It’s nice to be able to wear long sleeve shirts and a light jacket during my morning walk. I was at the Safety Harbor waterfront and it was 55 degrees. I could just barely make out the Tampa skyline across the bay.

The tide was low and there was still a lot of pier debris in the water from the hurricanes. New stuff floats in with every tide. After my walk along the water and Main Street I headed back to my car at the marina.

I noticed pelicans sitting in the tall mangroves along the back of the marina so I got my camera out of the car and snapped the above.

I was watching a cormorant (the orange beaked bird on the left) swimming around just under the water and was waiting for him to surface back up, hopefully with a fish. All of a sudden I noticed a horned grebe swimming up. They are not that common here but some winters we get a few of them passing through.

Two cormorants were synchronized swimming, passing right in front of me.

Then I realized there were 2 horned grebes. They are tiny diving ducks with beautiful red eyes.

A female anhinga stands guard on the channel marker.

A pelican flies close by.

The pelicans were diving for fish close to the marina and the laughing gulls would swoop in and try to steal the fish from their pouches when they brought their faces up. In the 2nd shot I caught a Forster’s tern (on the right) diving for a fish.

A yellow crowned night heron flies by and lands in the nearby muck.

Then a great blue heron flew by me and landed in front of the night heron. The night heron started quickly walking away. He wasn’t going to argue with a great blue heron that “he was here first”.

Hanging on the causeway

On November 30, 2023November 26, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I was back at one of my favorite spots for a quick walk and a rest.

After my walk I got out my chair and started watching a juvenile yellow crowned night heron trying to eat a crab. He flipped it around for a long time and then swallowed it quickly when I blinked. He has one tiny white fuzz strand still sticking out of his head from his baby fuzz.

It was low tide and the rocks were covered in these tiny black shells. I don’t know if these are baby conch shells or just some type of tiny black shell. Any Florida shell experts out there?

A pair of oystercatchers fly by.

Later I drove over to the other bridge on the causeway, closest to the mainland, and parked to walk on that bridge. I noticed a great egret and a reddish egret standing fairly close to each other. I pulled my camera back out and shot the above.

The great egret started walking towards the reddish egret and the reddish egret started ruffling his feathers like “Don’t come over here. This is my spot”. The great egret kept going and then flew off.

Heading over the bridge.

Clouds were moving in as I walked over the bridge. I noticed an osprey on the top of the gate that closes when the drawbridge has to go up.

Pelicans were sitting along the pilings under the bridge.

As I was getting back in my car I heard some nanday parakeets screaming nearby so out came my camera again and I walked over to the bushes and caught a few of them eating the seed. At this point the clouds were getting dark so I headed home.

Pink on a cloudy day

On November 5, 2022October 18, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was a cloudy day in late September and I stopped by the Oldsmar pier to look for the eagles. I didn’t find any eagles but I did see something almost as good. Two spoonbills were feeding along the grass next to the pier. The white ibis are almost always feeding here but this was the first time I had seen spoonies at this pier.

They fed for a while, stopping a few times to keep an eye on me.

Someone walked up behind me and off they went.

A yellow crowned night heron was also walking around. I think he was looking for lost mangrove crabs.

In the backyard

On May 12, 2016May 12, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

We recently had a yellow crowned night heron on our dock. He didn’t fly away when I went out to take his picture. I didn’t get too close to the dock though.

Of course, the mallard came cruising up to see if I had a handout.

A red bellied woodpecker has been a regular in our backyard.

I saw this squirrel resting in our tree. When I got closer he didn’t move. I was beginning to wonder if he was still alive. I got pretty close and he turned and looked at me. I left him alone and after a while, he got up and left.

These bloom all year here.

Another wasp nest in the palm tree.

I saw this weird glow outside right before dark and ran outside to take pictures of the clouds. The rain had stopped and the sun was trying to peak through before going down.