Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Honeymoon Island State Park, Dunedin Florida, Baby Balds and Doggies

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence


At the end of the Osprey Trail at Honeymoon Island State Park there is one lone bald eagle nest.  Because there were 2 babies being raised in that nest the area has barricades in place to keep them safe from inquiring minds.

The babies were actually fledglings.  They had been moving around, hopping to the edge of the nest. We met a fellow there who had been visiting the nest for weeks (he had GREAT photos he let us see).  It was his opinion that these two would be flying any day, maybe any moment.

Man estimates that we were 400 feet from the nest, and of course, it was very high up in the air.  Sony Too had it's work cut out for it.  Most of the photos were out of focus.  No tripod.  I did find a short pole that I hugged as best I could to try to stabilize Sony Too.  Holding my breath and squeezing the shutter release, I had fun trying to capture the fledglings.  I managed to get these two photos, only one baby in each.




We spent some enjoyable minutes chatting with our fellow photographer, and watching the fledglings pop up and down in the nest.  Alas, time to move on down the path, there were more ospreys to see and an owl to try to discover.  Sad to report it was a fail on the owl.

We went for a quick bite to eat.  We sat at the beach, watching people enjoy the sun, surf and sand.


Instead of walking the beach, we decided to go over to the dog beach, little did we realize doing so involved another long walk.  Here comes one of the dogs leaving the beach.


Here are two pooches chasing their ball.  (Ball to far left, see that little splash.)


Nothing better than taking a nap with your best friend (the dog) and your fellow on the beach, is there?


Can we say, ahhhhhhhhhhh, too cute?  This little guy was very happy to ride back to the car.


Honeymoon Island State Park, a great afternoon with several unexpected but nice surprises.  Bald eagle fledglings, ospreys and dogs on the beach and in the back pack.  Nice surprises.




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2 comments:

Lynne Carothers said...

Great afternoon! I sure wish I could find the Bald Eagle nest around our cottage. One of these days I will succeed! I think your photos of the fledglings are special.

Carol said...

Thank you Lynne, and good luck on your search.