More wild birds at the zoo

Roseate spoonbill scratching.

Spoonbill sitting on the nest.

She's crying "It's your turn to sit on these hard sticks."

Carolina wren. I don't see these too often here.

Great egret flying by.

Just a few more pictures from my last recent trip to Lowry Park zoo.  I'm really keeping my fingers crossed on seeing spoonbill babies. I'm going to stop by there every weekend to check on them. It's only 10-12 minutes away and I have a membership so I may just stop in and run back to the rookery to see if any babies are present. Although, I sometimes get distracted by other cute animals.

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Lake Morton - City wildlife

The baby goose that is being raised by the black swan mom is growing up.

Baby goose standing in the middle of her adoptive parents.

She's looking at me like "Where's the bread?"

I found this great blue heron fluffing up from the wind.

Cute turtle staring at me from a rock.

I stopped by Lake Morton in downtown Lakeland on my way home from a recent trip to Gatorland to see how much the baby goose had grown up. Somehow, a  pair of black swans took over parenting a baby goose at the lake. The swans were still staying close to the baby even though now it was almost as big as the swans. They followed each other around the lake. They were a strange family.  It looked like most of the white pelicans and migrating ducks were gone from the lake. Only the resident geese, swans and ibis were present. I still didn't see any baby swans but several swans were sitting on nests.

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Busy mothers at Gatorland

Mom's on the left with her hands full tending to 2 fast growing babies. They were yelling at her to feed them.

At some point later in the morning I realize she is feeding the babies. She eats the food first and then regurgitates it back to the baby.  Yum!

These 3 babies were busy. They belong to the mom below.

More "feed me" squawking going on. I think the mom was ignoring them.

Where did mom go with the food? I think that's what they were discussing.

All of those bird moms out there in the wild taking care of their babies get no recognition. They sit on them to keep them warm, shield them from the rain, fight off predators and choke back up their food to feed the babies. Sounds like a fun job. But the good news is they only do it for a few months and then they have the free life again, until next spring. I doubt the babies come back to visit on the holidays. I'm sure they don't send cards or flowers. The babies just take off one day and are gone for good. Some human moms out there might be thinking "That sounds good to me." I know when I was in college my mom would say "When are going to move out? "  And then when I did she constantly asked "When are you coming to visit?"

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there, including animal moms.

Animals at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park

Lulu, the hippo, lives there. I caught her in a big yawn.

Lots of alligators there. It's fun to hear the gasps of little kids who see these animals up close. Especially with those teeth. I think he's looking right at me.

There are two river otters but only the one was swimming around while we were there.

Lots of wild wood ducks live at the park. The male is the beautiful one in the front. The female is in the back with a bored look on her face.

There were several wild great blue herons working on nests high over the alligator enclosure.

These are the permanent residents at the park being fed.

Now that it has warmed up the wild manatees are heading out into other areas. There were very few hanging around inside the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park when we were there a couple of weekends ago. The park opens the gates to let the wild manatees into the warmer water of the river during the severe cold tempatures (severe by Florida standards). When hubby and I were there in mid January the river was full of them. Now there's just a few straglers. Most are heading out into other rivers, the intercoastal waterway and upper Tampa bay. There are lots of other animals at the park and a lot of wildlife that hangs around as well. 

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More birds at the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary

Great blue heron nest high up in the shade trees at the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary.  This one sits right over the raptor's enclosure.

You can guess what happens next. Soon there should be some baby great blues.

Permanent resident scratching.

Juvenile night heron.

The three stooges. Baby pelicans finally walking around.

Still some baby pelicans being born. This one was sitting on two brand new babies (although they look like plucked chickens at first).

One of my favorite permanent residents with the torn beak pouch. I always see him when I visit.

Still some nest building going on so there will be more babies to come.

Spring is here at the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary. Between the wild birds coming to nest and the permanently injured birds already nesting there are lots of babies to see. A couple of weekends ago I stopped by there with my sister. She hadn't been there when all of the babies where there so it was a treat. There were a few pelican couples arguing over nesting spots so I think they will have more babies there in the next couple of  months. At the end of spring, the sanctuary will open the netting so all of the baby pelicans can fly away, although I think a handful will still hang around for free handouts. 

Eagles at Fort Desoto

Another baby eagle family near Fort Desoto. These are extremely cropped. The nest is across the lake and there's no way around the lake.

The only baby's thinking "What are you looking at?"

Flock of white pelicans circling around Fort Desoto.

Snowy egret posing on the fishing pier.

There's always a lot of great egrets on the pier.

Great blue heron flying into the lake.

I can't go to the Fort Desoto fishing pier and not take pictures of dolphins.

It's that time of the year. Warmer days means heading to the beach at Fort Desoto park. Recently, we had our first real warm day and the hubby and I headed out.  Our first stop was the duck ponds just outside of the park. There's an eagle's nest across the pond. As we drove near it you could see all of the photographers standing on the side of the road with their big lenses pointed at the nest. We got out and I took a handful of pictures. We waited for about an hour but the other mate didn't return.  Another photographer said the mate did not return until noon the day before so we left and headed to the beach.

After a picnic lunch on the beach, I walked down to the fishing pier. In the past you would see lots of pelicans swimming around the pier. It's a good place to practice birds in flight photography and pelicans diving for food photography. No such luck on this day. For some reason there wasn't a single pelican around. The fishermen didn't seem to be catching much either so maybe that's why.



My first King Rail and other birds too.

My first king rail. This one has been in the same spot for a couple of weeks at the park, just look for the big group of photographers hanging around the corner of Heron Hideout and Marsh Rabbit Run.

Red bellied woodpecker looking at something interesting.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher looking up at the sky. Probably checking out a hawk.

One of the sandhill crane couples had laid an egg in a small nest in the middle of the marsh.  Hopefully, in the next week or two there will be a fuzzy brown baby running around.

Great egret flying along Lake Hancock.

This is why helium balloons should be outlawed. Some poor animal is going to choke on that. I would have grabbed it but I wasn't in the mood to step over the alligators.

One of the smaller ones at the park.

Another gorgeous weekend and another trip to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland. These were taken a couple of weekends ago during one of the first nice warm weekends we had. People were disappointed that the white pelicans had left but there are still so many things to see there. I never did see the sora rail or virginia rail. Or the orange crowned warbler. The list goes on. You will always see lots of alligators there. I'm going back soon to check on the status of the sandhill crane egg.

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War Memorial Park - a few bites - My World Tuesday

Juvenile blue heron eating a dragonfly.

Great blue heron with a fish.

There are so many parks in Pinellas county. I was on my way to look for the eagles and decided to drive through the War Memorial Park that sits on the water. I had been by there many times but never inside the park. It sits on an inlet in south St. Petersburg.  At first I thought there wouldn't be too much there but I did find a few birds eating. As I wandered out to the end of the park, I noticed the above couple sitting under the palm trees watching the gulls fly by. They seemed so peaceful it made me want to stop, slow down and take in the sights.  That lasted about a minute and then I was on to find more birds.

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Christmas Morning At Harns Marsh Preserve

It was a very foggy and chilly morning at Harns Marsh Preserve on Christmas Day 2010.

The sunrise above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in December 2010.

That didn't deter me from an attempt to have a very rewarding time observing the wildlife which I did.

The first active flight observed was that of Roseate Spoonbill from the area where Limpkin are sometimes seen while always heard.

The Roseate Spoonbill above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in December 2010.

The vultures were seen across the lake on the ground perhaps in their attempt to stay warmer while they're typically observed in the trees at first light.

A juvenile Great Blue Heron was very docile seemingly waiting for the sun to warm its bones.

The Great Blue Heron juvenile above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in December 2010.

Limpkin were observed in flight more so than I had observed at Harns Marsh before.

This species has a tendency to stay very low to the ground even while in flight.

The Cattle Egret above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in December 2010.

Snail Kite were active in their search of Apple Snails shortly before the fog burned off.

Osprey were again observed hunting successfully for their prey.

The Glossy Ibis above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in December 2010.

What would become a remarkable observation for me was an inbound flight of a solitary Sandhill Crane that landed directly in front of me from the north.

As I observed this bird in amazement, two more cranes were walking toward me along the marsh's frontage road and emerged from the fog a short while later.

The Snadhill Crane above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in December 2010.

Before the Sandhill Cranes arrived, a small flock of Cattle Egret appeared to become active from their slumber.

It was at this time that I was chiding myself for failing to bring the flash and Better Beamer.

The Snadhill Crane above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in December 2010.

Always have them at the ready in case they're needed if you have them.

It was a special occasion to meet Hemant Kishan again at the preserve.

Hemant Kishan above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in December 2010.

Hemant, a prolific American Birding Association contributor, was intently observing an American Bittern that he sighted at relatively close range.

He was kind enough to point my camera in the direction of the bird at one point as the bird was so well camouflaged in the reeds.

The American Bittern above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in December 2010.

Hemant mentioned his interest in Celery Fields which he believes best visited in September.

It was interesting to observe a scuffle between a pair of Anhinga while the Tree Swallows seemed to be in lesser numbers than usual.

The Anhinga with Pied-billed Grebe above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in December 2010.

The same pair of Great Egret observed a couple of weeks earlier offered their same repose in nearly the exact same spot I had last seen them.

Since my visit to Harns Marsh Preserve this week, I have read that the Crested Caracara is often seen in flight in the presence of vultures.

The Limpkin above was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in December 2010.

When I visit the preserve again, my first objective will be to scan the trees where the vultures are typically resting before they fly off to take advantage of the thermals in the absence of wind.