A rare Pomarine Jaeger on the beach.

On September 29, 2012September 29, 2012 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

Mick, as the local birders have started to call him, was first found last Sunday night at the small beach at the entrance to the fishing pier at Fort Desoto. Jaegers are pelagic birds, who spend most of their time out in the open ocean and can usually only be seen miles offshore in the air. This was the first sighting reported so close to land in the Pinellas county area. I drove down to Fort Desoto Wednesday night after work looking for him. No sign of him. Several other birders where out looking for him with no luck. He was reported there that morning. Then I heard he was back the next day. Saturday morning I headed back down to the beach to try again. This time I had luck. Along with a huge crowd of people who had driven far away, some as far as a two-hour drive, to see him up close. When I first got to the park is was cloudy with a little drizzle.

He was on the sea wall near the pier and spent a while preening himself and ignoring all the photogs staring at him. At this point he had been on land for 6 days. Everyone was wondering if something was wrong with him. He appeared okay.

At one point, a group of us were standing far back in grass. We see a man walking along the sidewalk that was up against the sea wall. We saw him heading for the bird and everyone was waving and calling for him to walk around instead of right by him so he wouldn’t disturb the bird. He ignored everyone and kept walking. He was 3 feet from the bird and the bird did not flee. He barely looked up at the man and then went back to his preening.

He’s just sitting on the sea wall all by himself.

Later in the morning the sun came out so I headed back to the fishing pier before leaving the park to see if the jaeger was still around. Now he was on the beach area. Close by the other birds but still stayed by himself. He’s much bigger than the laughing gulls.

Profile. He’s got a cute hook on the end of his beak that you don’t see on laughing gulls.

Over a week later, someone noticed his foot look injured. None of the pictures that people were taking earlier showed anything. This past Tuesday, people were noticing a fishing hook and line stuck in his foot. It isn’t known whether that’s why he’s been hanging around the beach lately and not out at sea or if it happened while he was here visiting. One of the park rangers caught him and took him to the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary where he is being treated. Hopefully, the hook was taken out and he can be released pretty quickly. I think all of the local birders will remember seeing “Mick” Jaeger for a while. Although my hubby says it looks like any ole seagull to him.

Camera Critters

Migrating red knots feeding.

On September 19, 2012September 11, 2012 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

Nice butt shot on these. They were so busy feeding they didn’t even look up when people walked by them. Notice the tags on the back two birds.

It was nice to catch these birds in breeding colors. Soon they’ll be mostly beige.

This one saw me watching him. He barely paid attention.

Back to more feeding.

There were small groups of them feeding all over the Fort Desoto beach.

Red knots fly more than 9,000 miles from south to north every spring and repeat the trip in reverse every autumn, making this bird one of the longest-distance migrants of all animals. They are exhausted when they stop over on our beaches in Florida. That’s one of the main reasons the tourists shouldn’t let their kids (or dogs) chase birds. They need their rest and to feed to keep going. On a recent Sunday morning, I saw several small flocks of them feeding at the north beach. They probably feed early in the morning and nap in the afternoon when all of the tourist are out. If you see these beautiful shore birds on the beach, please give them some space.

Blue moon, you left me standing…

On September 6, 2012January 1, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights17 Comments

on a beach with about 50 other people and a million mosquitos. I almost didn’t go. I thought, I’ll catch it next year. But then I read it only comes “once in a blue moon” or every couple of years. It’s when there’s a second full month in a month. It won’t happen again until July 2015. So I headed down to Fort Desoto after work on Friday and waiting for the moon to show it’s blue face. I some friends there and we hung out waiting for the moon to clear the clouds that were hanging behind the bridge. Once it came out, it was bright and beautiful. Total worth the 50 or so bug bites I got (even with 2 coats of Off).