Spirit of Boyd HIll Nature Preserve

Picture I took of Spirit this past summer taken through the fence.

I recently came across this article on Tampabay.com about how the permanently injured eagle, Spirit, had died at Boyd Hill. She was 27 years old and had been a resident at Boyd Hill since 2001. When Spirit was young she was bitten by a rattlesnake which had done permanent damage to her wing making her flightless. She had a great big roomy cage at Boyd Hill and I was glad I got to see her while she was there. Below is the article about her life.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/resident-bald-eagle-at-boyd-hill-nature-preserve-in-st-petersburg-dies/1076462

Below are some of the other residents there.

Eagles up the street.

Recently I had noticed a big nest on a cell tower up the street from my neighborhood. I had kept an eye on it for a couple of weeks thinking it was probably an osprey nest but had not seen anything on it. This past weekend my husband was driving and I looked up and saw a big brown thing on it. I was like "Turn around, turn around!!!". As we drove through a shopping center parking lot below it I could see the white head. After running our errands, I went home and got my camera and came back to catch the above. There was another eagle sitting on the nest. You can see it's brown wings through the silver bars on the left.

This is truly city wildlife. The nest is near one of the busiest intersections in Tampa with shopping centers and subdivisions all around it. Tampa bay is not too far away though. I'll keep an eye out for babies sitting on the tower in the next couple of weeks.

Theodore Cross

"Today the objects of my deepest affection are birds that I had ignored or took for granted for the first forty year of my life."

This is a quote from Theodore Cross's new book, Waterbirds. I ordered the book last week and got it in the mail last night. I spent most of the night pouring over the amazing pictures. The above was written in the preface. I felt the same having just taken up bird photography in the last year.

Bird photography was a hobby for Theordore that became full time as he got older. At the age of 86 he was still out taking pictures of birds. He traveled all over the world taking pictures. I stumbled on the article from Tampabay.com in February about his travels and pictures and was thinking "I need to get this book". I had almost forgotten about it when 2 weeks later I stumbled across the article on his death. He was in south Florida, where he had a winter home, taking pictures. At some point during his visit he had fallen and then had a heart attack. I immediately ordered the book and regretted never being able to meet him and bug him with tons of bird photography questions.

Original article about his life http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article1074498.ece.

Article about his death http://www.tampabay.com/news/obituaries/ted-cross-businessman-bird-lover-and-author/1076698.

His book http://www.amazon.com/Waterbirds-Theodore-Cross/dp/0393072266.

A walk around Sand Key

Laughing gull's gotta an itch. Most of the laughing gulls are getting black heads now which means breeding season will be starting soon for them.

This ring billed gull is taking a nap. I like the bright pink that outlines their eyes. I have read it is part of their breeding color.



Up close great egret. He was very pretty but looked too skinny.


Prancing around the fishing docks looking for a handout.

A recent walk around Sand Key Park was a little disappointing. It was very windy and a little cold. There were not too many birds around. I spoke to a fisherman on the fishing dock under the big bridge and he told me not too many fish were biting. It's going to take a while before they rebound from the big freeze in January. I guess most of the birds are still staying south looking for food. I did notice that the gulls are starting to show their breeding colors. A lot of the great egrets are showing their lime green around the beak. The one above was just starting to get his.

Osprey nesting season

It's osprey nesting season at Honeymoon Island. The nests on the trail (appropriately titled Osprey trail) are full of osprey couples. Lots of activity going on with them flying around with sticks and fish in their mouths. I'm not sure if there are many babies yet but there must be lots of eggs. Almost every nest had at least one osprey camped out on it. There must be at least 20 nests on the trail with some sitting right on the path.

You should check out the Dunedin osprey cam. There are 2 babies on the nest and they are moving around a lot now. It's really cute to watch.

http://ospreynest.info/index.php?pagecontent=home

Baby eagles update

Baby eagles on each side of the nest with one of the parents in the middle.

One of the proud parents sitting on a branch next to the nest.

One of the babies was flapping his wings while the other looks.

This past Sunday I made a trip to Honeymoon Island to see how big the baby eagles have gotten. It's amazing how much they have grown since I was there 5 weeks ago. They were sitting on the nest looking almost as big as their parents. They are around 9-10 weeks old. In the next 2 weeks they will probably start to fly. They will spend 4-5 weeks after their first flight still hanging around the nest building up their wing strength. I think I'm going to have to make a trip out there again before they leave for good.

African shoebill baby update

Mom and baby.


Baby looking around. The baby really has grown. It looks like mom only with fuzz instead of feathers.

Mom checking out the egret on the far left that must have been paying a visit.

Baby looking up at mom. It looks like it could be smiling.

This weekend I went to see if the baby African shoebill stork at Lowry Park Zoo was old enough to be visible through 2 fences. It was born on Christmas day. At nine weeks old I was able to get some not so great pictures since I had to take them through the fences. The African shoebill stork family lives in the big aviary in the African section of the zoo. These are very rare birds and this baby is the 2nd in the world to be born in captivity and the 1st in the US. The zoo says the parents are doing great for being first time parents. There is another couple there and the zoo hopes they will follow and nest as well. I'll be checking back in a few weeks to see if the baby is walking or flying around.