Someone was having fun in the blasting wind.

Posted on April 15, 2024 by dinajohnston

It was really cold in early February. I was headed to Fred Howard Park for a cold walk and didn’t think I would see many birds but I threw my camera in the back anyway. I saw a “gulp” of cormorants out on the rocks along the causeway and after my walk I stopped on the way out to shoot them all resting. The beautiful ring billed gull was a bonus.

Cormorants were flying back and forth and another ring billed gull flew in.

My walk started out on the tiny beach at the park. I walked the little parking lot loop and then started out for the long causeway.

I was on my way back to the beach end when I saw a lone kiteboarder in the water. It was really windy so he had better know what he was doing. I could barely stand up as I walked into the wind back to my car.

He was getting some air.

A short video of him flying through the air right by me (maybe he was showing off?). He makes it look so easy. I took this and the above with my phone.

I made a quick stop at nearby Sunset Beach. I think this is the smallest beach in the Tampa Bay area. This is the entire beach. It was too windy to look for birds so I headed home.

Beautiful morning on the pier

Posted on March 2, 2024 by dinajohnston

After taking a zillion pictures of the white pelicans I headed over to the fishing pier before going home. You never know what you might find in that area, The egrets were hanging out on the roof of the shelters, always waiting for a bait fish to be dropped or ignored.

Some of the snowy egrets were doing the work to get their own meals. Heading down to the water and grabbing it themselves since the water was full of them this morning.

It was a little windy up there.

If the snowy egret brought his catch back to the shelter roof he was going to have to fight off the other egrets.

A cormorant scratching his head.

The frigatebirds were cruising low over the pier.

Not a lot of boat traffic out this morning.

One last look at Howard the pinkie

Posted on January 25, 2024 by dinajohnston

A few days after I had first seen the juvenile flamingo at Fred Howard Park (in Tarpon Springs) I was back out there early in the morning. I had to see if he was still there and sure enough, he was in the same spot. The temperature had dropped and it was chilly (around 55 in the morning) and I was thinking he should have left to head back south.

There’s always a lot of cormorants in this spot on the backside of the beach island.

The sun had come out for a short time and as I was driving on the causeway back to the main park I stopped to catch one last shot of the flamingo from the road. This was the last time I saw this beauty. I checked back several times but he must have finally moved on.

I also caught a skimmer doing what he does, skimmer the top of the water for bait fish. He was heading right for me but turned at the last minute.

I stopped by the Dunedin causeway before heading home and saw this big mix of shorebirds along the beach there. Most were skimmers but there were a few terns, gulls and dowitchers mixed in. The sun had gone behind the clouds and it was started to get dark.

A pair of blue winged teals flew by.

By mid-morning I could see the rain far north over land, where I had been an hour before. I was hoping to see some lightning but there was none this morning.

The sun kept peeking out between the rain clouds and I dipped on a rainbow as well.

More from the bird rookery in late March

Posted on June 17, 2023 by dinajohnston

There were several glossy ibis flying over the rookery in late March. I’m not sure if they were nesting yet since they nest in the far back hidden part of the rookery. The color of their feathers really popped against the sun as they flew by.

Tricolored herons were still flirting. They nest later than the great egrets and wood storks.

A great egret showing off.

Yes, that’s an almost grown cormorant with his entire face down his Dad’s throat. He was trying to get the fish that Dad was regurgitating for him. I think he still wanted more.

A wood stork showing off his underneath green feathers.

There were so many wood stork babies here.

That fish was way to big for the baby to swallow. The parent realized that pretty quickly and didn’t want it to go to waste so down the hatch it went.

Out on the fishing pier

Posted on June 1, 2023 by dinajohnston

I spent a morning at the Safety Harbor fishing pier in late March. It was sunny when I first got there and I could just barely make out this kiteboarder cruising across upper Tampa bay. Tampa was just a shadow in the distance.

A sailboat anchored near the marina.

A cormorant guards the “no wake zone” sign.

Here’s the reason for the No wake and then Slow wake as you leave the marina. Manatees hang out here all year round.

It was low tide and the ibis were picking off tiny crabs.

A snowy egret feeding near the pier.

By the time I was about to leave the sky was dark and it looked like it was going to rain. I headed for my car not wanting to be out on the pier if lightning started but the sky said “Just kidding”. We are in a severe 25 year record drought right now. We are hoping the summer rains start soon.

More shots from the rookery

Posted on April 8, 2023 by dinajohnston

The great egrets were busy nesting here as well as the Seabird Sanctuary. There were a lot more here though. They were mixed in with the wood storks. I can barely see the eggs in the 2nd shot. I don’t think there were any babies born at this point yet.

This female anhinga was pretty with those white feathers sticking out.

I caught this anhinga couple flirting.

The cormorants and anhingas were already sitting on nests high up in the cypress tree on the spoil island. The nests were pretty close together and there was probably going to be a lot of fighting going on up there when the parents try to feed the babies.

I’ll be making several trips over to this bird rookery in north Tampa this spring. I can park on the side of the road and take a few steps and there it is so there’s not a lot of walking involved. I’ll bring my beach chair next time and spend a few more minutes here.

Finally saw that duck

Posted on February 6, 2023 by dinajohnston

I headed over to the Dunedin causeway to look for the elusive black scoter. I had recently driven down to south St. Pete to look for him without any luck. Then a few days later I hear there is one right at the causeway nearby. The first thing I saw was this turkey vulture eating a fish that must have washed up on shore.

The dark clouds had started to move in so it was hard to tell what was floating around out there. The two above were a pair of cormorants.

Was this it? No, I realized as I cropped it up on my camera. Just a common loon but still a cool find.

There she was. The black scoter that I could finally add to my list. She was pretty far out and these are extremely cropped up but she counts! Not a pretty duck by any means. I would have probably thought it was a female lesser scaup if I wasn’t paying attention. She’s a fairly rare duck but there were two sightings in two weeks. Unless, she’s the same one that was down south that ended up here.

The rocky beach on the north side of the causeway was littered with these fish. This was at the end of December when red tide was creeping north up the beaches. Luckily it didn’t hang around too long and is gone.

I stopped at nearby Possum Branch Preserve for a quick walk since I hadn’t been since May. It’s too hot and void of birds in the summer and I missed fall migration due to my shoulder surgery. I was meeting Brett for lunch so I didn’t stay long but it was good to get out there and walk the trails.

I saw this ibis with his lunch as I was leaving.

So glad to see the eagles again

Posted on October 27, 2022 by dinajohnston

I finally caught the bald eagle in the tree at the Oldsmar pier. I had stopped by several times with my camera before finding him sitting high up there. He didn’t stay long, taking off not long after I had arrived.

As he left, he flew by so close that I couldn’t fit his wings in. I still haven’t figured out if this is one of the eagles that has a nest in my neighborhood or somewhere else. There is a another nest nearby but that couple did not use it this past year. He always flies north towards my neighborhood when he leaves which is why I’m thinking it’s him.

Walking on the pier I noticed another eagle sitting in a tree at the far end of the park. He was facing the water and wasn’t very visable from the sidewalk but I caught the above from the pier.

A few of the other birds at the pier. I think that tricolored heron was keeping his eye on the sky in case the eagle was heading towards him.

A cormorant cruises by the pier.

The black terns were still there.

The next day I was heading up to Tarpon Springs for a walk and I saw 2 eagles on a tower. I pulled over into a parking lot and shot the above. It wasn’t until later when I cropped up the picture that I realized the eagle on the right is a dummy. I don’t know if they put the fake up there to attract or repel other birds. The real eagle on the left didn’t seem to mind. Now I laugh when I drive by there and see that fake sitting up there.

More crazy birds at the rookery

Posted on August 9, 2022 by dinajohnston

A juvenile night heron sits alone at the front of the rookery. He’s been there on my last 2 visits. They nest deep in the bushes so I can’t see them as little babies.

A snowy egret still flirting.

The cormorants and anhingas nest high up inthe cypress trees so it’s a little harder to see those young babies. As they get older the bigger babies end up down on the rookery and Mom feeds them there. The top one is a cormorant. They have orange curved beaks and hook their fish. The middle shot are both anhingas (male on the left in all black and the female on the right has a brown chest and neck). They have pointed beaks and stab their fish. The juveniles with the great egret in the bottom shot are both anhingas.

A female grackle getting some bugs. They also nest deep in the bushes.

A wood stork getting a drink in the pond.

I saw a tricolored heron fly over to the top of a tree away from the rookery. She’s got food in her beak and she’s trying to get her young one to fly over to be fed. She was yelling at the baby to fly across the pond to her to get food instead of her bringing it to the baby.

The baby eventually flew over and got his meal.

All of the tricolored heron babies that I saw were almost fully grown. They all had their adult colors in their feathers but they still had those baby spikes on the top of their heads and were still squawking for food.

Lots of critters at Fort Desoto

Posted on July 2, 2022 by dinajohnston

Another trip to Fort Desoto Park to look for migrating birds. The first thing I found was a squirrel being cute on the agave plant. I was hoping there would be birds on those plants but no, I find a squirrel.