Osprey at Honeymoon Island

Osprey were flying everywhere.

 

"I'm full. Want the leftovers?"

"Don't make fun of my tiny fish."

"When is Valentine's Day again?"

Osprey Trail at Honeymoon Island is full of.... wait for it.....opsrey.  Although, the best part of osprey trial is the end where the eagle's nest is. To get to the eagle's nest you have to walk by a ton of osprey. The trail is buzzing with pre-nesting osprey activity. Osprey were flying over my head non-stop. I only saw 2 nests that had osprey sitting on them. It's a little early but in the next couple of weeks there will be osprey couples all over the place. They get loud when you walk by so the trail is pretty noisy.  I'm going to try and get back there soon to see osprey babies.

Bald eagle's nest at Honeymoon Island

Bald eagle soaring by.

Flying past me through the pine trees.

This one still has some lunch on his beak.

Bringing home the bacon (or fish).

Almost home. The fish looked like it was half eaten already.

Finally home.

Sitting on the nest.

The rangers at Honeymoon Island say the eagle couple have 2 babies on the nest. This time last year the babies were big enough to see their heads popping out. This year they are a little later. I'll go back in another 2 weeks. When I got there one parent was sleeping on the nest and one was sleeping on a snag close by. I decided to walk around the park for a while and check back later. Not too far from the nest, I saw one flying by and headed back to the nest. I got there right as the eagle was flying back with a fish. The nest is about a mile and a half walk from the parking lot. The nest is closed off way more than the standard 500 feet to keep people from getting too close. It's good for the eagles to have their space but you'll need binoculars to see them. I had my 500mm lens and the above are highly cropped.

Hopefully, I'll have some baby pictures soon.

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Windy day at Honeymoon Island

Is this a caspian tern or common tern?  They both look alike. Anyway, it's fairly rare to see one here. Too many laughing gulls around.

Black vulture posing on snag.

This looks like a pine warbler. It was the closest thing in my Audubon guide.

Woodpecker hanging upside down.

 

I think this is a juvenile ring-billed gull (adult below). There were a handful of ring billed gulls hanging around on the beach. This one was eating the insides of the conch.

Adult ring billed gull. I like the way their feet matches their beak.

Kiteboarder at Honeymoon Island.  Looking down to Clearwater beach.

Two weekends ago it was very windy. I decided to hit the nature trail at Honeymoon Island to see what was going on with the eagles there. I had heard they had 2 baby chicks but they were still too small to show their heads. It didn't feel windy on the inside wooded trail but I decided to head north along the mangrove trail to the north end beach. The wind was blasting. There were only a few gulls hanging around, no other shorebirds.  There wasn't a large variety of birds on the trail. I think the weather had blown them away. There are tons of osprey, more on those later. I decided to hit the beach before I headed home but when I got there it was just too windy (and I was hungry) so I didn't stay long. The rocky beach section was full of live conchs. The gulls were feeding off of them and a few shell seekers were looking around.  A few kiteboarders were out and they were moving fast across the water.

When I got home my husband said "Weren't you cold?" I said "No, wimp."

Kingfisher pays another visit

More pictures of my neighborhood female belted kingfisher. She's so cute, I can't stop taking pictures of her.  It had started to rain a couple of weekends ago and the last 2 pictures of her are in the rain sitting on my dock. All taken through the bedroom window. I'm not sure when she'll head back up north for the summer, maybe March?  I'm going to miss her visits.

Enigmatic Eagles

The first months of the year and time when I was able in 2010 were significantly devoted to the study of Florida Burrowing Owls.

The Little Blue Heron above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park in February 2011.

A late start for observation of Bald Eagles in 2011 I suspect will again be disruptive to observation of other bird species that I hope to photograph when possible.

I'm quite positive that the eagle nest I've been watching has only one Bald Eagle juvenile in it after about 20 hours of observation.

The Raccoon carcass above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in February 2011.

Bald Eagles will typically produce a pair of young with as many as three while there were two observed in a nearby nest in the 2009 season south of Fort Myers Beach.

This year's offering is a disappointment that there is only one progeny in the nest, but certainly better than none.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in February 2011.

I don't know how to explain all the expired mammals I've seen in my few visits around the nest this year.

They led to my research of the wildlife efforts of Charles Broley documented in The Wilson Bulletin.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in February 2011.

In the late 1930's to mid 1940's there was banding of the Bald Eagle species in Florida with a record of their sightings through 1946.

What I found interesting was that the eagles were not thought to migrate at the time, but were later observed including as far as southwest of The Great Lakes in 1945 which was explained by unusual weather conditions at the time.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in February 2011.

I've not encountered Bald Eagles as a very common sight in southwest Florida.

They have been reported to be very skittish when an attempted close observation of them is made.

The Bald Eagle juvenile above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in February 2011.

The first of two observations near their nest this week offered an observation of one of the adults at guard as expected.

At an early point during the afternoon visit, one of the adult eagles flew into the nest.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in February 2011.

A follow-up afternoon visit to the eagle nest offered a view of one of the adults again supervising the area.

After several hours passed without observation of the juvenile in the nest, I had become concerned.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in February 2011.

While attempting to photograph a Gray Catbird which had not been seen in quite some time, the juvenile eagle caught my eye.

It was a relief as I was worried the nest was empty.

The Red-shouldered Hawk above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in February 2011.

There had been what appeared to be too many Turkey Vultures in the area while at one point the adult eagle drove a circling vulture away from the area.

The juvenile Bald Eagle in the nest would remain for the most part well hidden dodging my efforts to get a decent shot of it.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in February 2011.

The solitary adult eagle I observed near the nest disappeared from view on a couple of other occasions with my expectation that it would immediately return with food for the fledgling which it did not.

The tide was relatively high at the time and may have been the reason.

The Bald Eagle above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in February 2011.

It was interesting to see a Red-shouldered Hawk perched much closer to the nest than I would have thought allowed.

Mourning Doves were again active in the area and were perched closer to the nest than observed before.

The Red-bellied Woodpecker above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in February 2011.

The juvenile Bald Eagle would again offer the observation that it has been well fed.

It was not until after sunset that the adult eagles returned into view while not offering the opportunity to photograph them in the nest.

The Bald Eagle juvenile above was photographed at Lovers Key State Park at Big Carlos Pass in February 2011.

All appears well.

Unusual backyard visitors - Skywatch Friday

Ring billed gull on our dock. We usually only get laughing gulls in our neighborhood.

Turkey vulture sitting on our dock.  This is the 2nd time I've seen one on our dock in 7 years.

The tide was so low the muck was showing on the sides of the channel. The turkey vulture found something to dig out.

Pelican on our neighbor's dock. We have never gotten pelicans in our channel. In the last week I've seen one hanging around.

Posing for me.

Eastern phoebe sitting on my fence. I've never seen one of these in our backyard.

These ibis aren't unusual. Actually, there's always a flock somewhere in the neighborhood. One night they were sitting on the lamp post down the street. I took this through the kitchen window.

Snowy egret sitting on my dock. I see these every once in a while in the channel.

Last weekend was a perfect weekend. I was in and out of the house all weekend but when I was in I was always looking out the windows for any visitors. We had several different ones this time. We don't usually get pelicans and eastern phoebes. It was a nice mix of birds. It was very windy and that might have been what brought in the new birds to our channel. I also saw 2 pair of hooded mergansers but they stayed down at the other end of the channel and I didn't even try to take a picture that far away.  Sunday before sunset I went out and snapped the above picture. It was nice outside but it got cold fast when the sun went down.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Hanging with a movie star.

Winter giving me a big smile!

Winter showing me his missing flipper.

Winter's prosthetic tail. He doesn't wear it all of the time.

Panama and Winter playing. Panama was grabbing Winter's tail.

Winter from under the tank.

Winter playing with a toy.

A resident otter.

I had Martin Luther King Day off. Of course, it rained. I had to get out of the house so I headed over to Clearwater beach to visit Winter, the dolphin who lost his flipper as a baby years ago. There was a movie telling his story recently made with him starring as himself that is to be released this coming October. The movie people built a nice big outdoor dolphin pool at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium that Winter and Panama share together. The rest of the aquarium was indoors but I stood outside in the drizzle for an hour watching Winter play in his outdoor pool.

There are other animals there as well. Lots of turtle with missing feet. Right now they have a turtle hospital set up with turtles that are sick and beached themselves from the cold weather. Last winter the aquarium nursed back to health and released hundreds of cold stunned turtles. It's already happening again this year. If you are ever in the Tampa Bay area, stop by and hang out with a movie star. You won't get his autograph, although you may get splashed by him.

http://www.seewinter.com/