Thirty minutes with a sandhill crane baby

Mom, I'm bored.

Oooo, that's a scary looking bug.

Mom, come this way.

Mom, I don't see it!

Mom, don't push me out of the way.

I'm a big girl now.

I feel like I usually don't get this lucky. A couple of weekends ago, on my trip to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park with my sister, a sandhill crane baby had been born a few days before. A volunteer told me the parents are 3rd generation cranes that were born at the park from a permanently injured crane that lived there years ago. A wild mate found the resident crane and took up residence with it. The ones born since then can come and go but usually stay. This little baby was so cute and curious. It was running around looking at everything but not straying too far from the parents. Sandhill cranes are born in a nest low on the ground instead of in a tree. Unlike smaller birds who have to spend many weeks growing up in the nest first, the sandhill crane baby is usually mobile within a day or two of being born. The parents start grazing and are on the move within the first day. I must have walked around the big bird enclosure for at least 30 minutes. Finally, I had to run off and find my sister who had long moved on.

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. 

A trip to Tarpon Springs - Skywatch Friday

There's only one place to go for good Greek food in the Tampa Bay area, Tarpon Springs. It's almost an hour north of the Tampa airport but it's worth the drive. The little Greek town sits on the water and has a long sponge diving history. The main street has restaurants, tourist shops and boat tours. Whenever family or friends come to town we head there for a meal. My sister was in town recently and we went up for an afternoon of lunch and walking around. After eating the best Greek salads ever, we stopped in Hellas Bakery. We got a box full of Greek pastries to take home to eat over the weekend. It's not a place to count calories. I know, you're thinking "what's this got to do with wildlife?" I did manage to find a few birds there to take pictures of, both domestic and wild. But it's hard to think about birds when I've got a box of chocolate covered baklava in my hand.

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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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Birds at Lowry Park Zoo

Found this little sparrow on a railing.

Wild great egrets are starting to nest over the alligator exhibit at the zoo.

Permanently injured eagles live at the zoo. This is the first time I've seen them this close together.

Mates.

Love was in the air at the lorikeet exhibit. They were all busy preening each other.

Pink flamingo in the African aviary.

There's always something interesting to find at the Lowry Park Zoo. When my sister came to visit recently from South Dakota we spent an afternoon at the zoo. She was excited to be outside in the warm weather. It felt like spring. I was anxious to see if any of the blue herons were nesting over the alligator exhibit. There was no sign of them there but it's still a month or two early for them. There are a handful of great egrets nesting high up in the trees already. Last year blue herons filled the small palm trees along the exhibit with nests and by May there were baby blues everywhere. I'll check back in another month.

More black bellied whistling ducks

These ducks are just too cute. They almost look like a cartoon character. On my last trip to Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland a couple of weekends ago, they were all over the park. They kept flying overhead in circles. They are mostly considered a non-migratory duck so hopefully they will stay at the park through the summer. It would be nice to see some baby ones this year. It was interesting to see a large flock of sandhill cranes hanging out with the black bellies. They would all wander around together. So far, Circle B is the only place in the Tampa bay area that I have seen these ducks. I'm not sure why they love this place so much. Well, yes I do. I'm heading back there soon.