Neighborhood visitor - blue heron

Last weekend we had an immature blue heron walking around in our channel.  At one point he jumped up on my neighbor's rowboat that was sitting on it's side. He seemed to have found something. He was still a little unsure of himself and his balance. I snuck outside with my camera and was able to take a few pictures before he noticed me. He eventually wandered down the channel. This bird will eventually turn all blue. You can usually tell an immature blue when he's white by his lime green legs. I took the below picture later that night from our backyard. Before you get to the house in the middle the channel turns left and takes you out into the upper Tampa bay.

Manatees at Safety Harbor Fishing Pier.

The above pictures were taken a few weeks ago. It was cloudy and rainy when I left work so I decided to head to the grocery store instead of a park to take pictures. Since I had my camera in the car and the storms were moving away I decided to stop by the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way. It was really windy and there wasn't a single person fishing, which means there were almost no birds there as well. There were a few stray laughing gulls. There was also lots of manatees. Because of the storms the water was not clear so I could only catch their noses coming up for air but it was fun to watch them for a few minutes before I headed off to the grocery store (a chore I hate).

Skywatch Friday - Moon outside my window

I was getting ready for work early one morning. Too early that morning, I think. I opened the blinds in the dining room to see the moon hanging over our backyard right as the the sun came up. I grabbed my camera and took the above picture through the window. I didn't want to be late for work so I didn't bother running outside, because then I would have just taken way too much time taking pictures. I zoomed back in and was able to catch the osprey that sleeps on my neighbor's sailboat mast in the below picture.

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


 

Save Our Seabirds in Sarasota

Across the parking lot from Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota is Save Our Seabirds Rehabilitation Center. They rescue, rehabilitate and release injured wild birds. They also house permanently injured birds. I had never been there before. The place is full of big cages for the birds to fly around in. It's mostly shaded so it didn't feel as hot as it really was walking around. The pictures above are of sandhill cranes that have lost a leg. The center has designed a prosthetic leg for them. Sandhill cranes are easy prey for getting hit by cars and losing a leg is one of the most common injuries from this. I don't know if any of these birds are released later. They seemed to be doing well walking around with the fake leg. The pictures were taken through tiny chicken wire so they are not good pictures but I thought the concept was pretty neat.

Below is a great horned owl that had lost an eye.  The center also had pelicans, shorebirds, raptors, etc. It's a great place to spend an hour or two. No admission fee but they desperately need donations.
Their website - http://saveourseabirds.com/.

Marine animals at Mote Marine Laboratory

Mote has 2 resident dolphins. Harley above and Moonshine below. They were injured and stranded as babies and after rehabilitation they were not able to be released back in wild. Moonshine's back is covered in old sunburn scares. They do not do tricks and there is no show. You can, however, see them playing on their own.

The turtles above and below are both permanent residents at Mote as well. The above turtle, Edger, was born with a pigmentation problem which would have caused him to sunburn in the wild. He was found stranded as a baby.

There are 2 permanently injured manatees at Mote and they love to come up to the window and look at you.

You can get really close to some cool sharks. Below is a picture of one of the sharks being fed in their learning program.

I had not been to Mote in Sarasota in years. I decided to head down on a recent day off during the week hoping it would not be crowded.  It's not a big place but they have some really neat things there. They have a room full of fish aquariums, a great big octopus and cool shark tank that you can see in and look down on. My favorite place is across the street at the dolphin and whale hospital that is a part of Mote. They have dolphins, turtles and manatees that you can see up close.  The people at Mote work hard to rescue, rehab and release animals from all over Florida. The place is a great way to spend a couple of hours and learn all about these sea animals.

Little birds at Chesnut Park

Male cardinal keeping an eye on me.

 

Female cardinal posing.

I'm guessing the above is a yellow throated warbler. I looked it up but all of these tiny birds are starting to look alike.

Caroline Wren

Tufted titmouse.

Blue jay was about to eat a bug.

The recent trip to John Chesnut park in north Pinellas county provided some small migrating birds. There were tons of little birds there but it's so hard to catch them on camera. I got a lot more little bird pictures but they were a blurry mess. Those little guys don't sit long and pose like big water birds do. Plus I was getting a neck cramp after looking up high in the trees with my camera. My goal this trip was to find a few new small birds to capture. The warbler and wren were firsts for me. I've only gotten one picture of a titmouse from earlier this spring but this one was a little better. Migrating season is still going on so I'll keep trying.

Fun Animals at Chesnut Park

Loud mouth red shouldered hawk.

Butterflies were everywhere in the park.

Yes, this is the back end of a deer. See below for story.

Small alligator close to the boardwalk.



The above turtle was laying in the middle of the road that runs through the park. I took a quick picture then picked him up and moved him over in the grass.

Last Saturday was beautiful. It felt cooler in the morning so I headed out to John Chesnut Park in north Pinellas county. I had only been there once before and didn't see too much on that first visit. I really wanted to see deer. Several people have told me they had seen deer there. After 2 hours of walking through the park I stopped by the boardwalk that runs along the boat launch. A nice lady stopped me and said "There's 2 deer in the swamp here below the boardwalk." As I walked over and saw the deer a guy with a big dog walked over as well. The dog started barking very loud just as I started to take the picture. All I got was the back end of the deer. The thing that makes me really mad is there is a big sign at the entrance to that boardwalk that says "no dogs allowed".  Why do people have no respect? I guess another trip to this park is in my near future.