Late day walk at Fort Desoto

On January 30, 2021January 7, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I’m still going through my pictures from Fort Desoto in late October. So many shorebirds there at that time. Tons of gulls, terns and skimmers. The 2nd shot is of red knots, feeding before their trip south for the winter.

Many of the birds were taking baths before it got dark.

An uncommon herring gull.

Not sure what kind of snack this laughing gull has.

Some of the smaller shorebirds. Yellowlegs, dowitcher, a black bellied plover and a tiny snowy plover that was smaller than this pile of sand.

It’s weird to see turkey vultures on the beach. They were really in the muck at low tide. The one on the right had a small piece of fish under his foot that he was eating.

Great egret flyby.

This kid was throwing his frisbee into the birds. Why is it so fun to watch the birds flush? Someone walked over to him and asked him to stop and explained that the birds needed their rest before they migrate for the winter. He really just didn’t know. He stopped and went back to his family.

Heading home back into Tampa right before dark, I saw the moon coming up and had to stop and take a picture.

Storms were moving in

On January 28, 2021January 22, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I needed to get out of the house and go for a short walk so I headed down to Fort Desoto to walk out on the fishing pier. It was a dark and windy late morning and was threating to rain so there wasn’t a lot of people out.

The laughing gulls were driving the pelicans crazy. They would wait until the pelican had a scoop full of fish in their beaks and then try and steal one from them. Or at least catch any smaller fish that fell out of the pelican’s mouth.

A willet on the jetti.

Far down on the beach, I could see a wedding taking place. Looks like it had just ended. Good thing since it was starting to drizzle.

Kiteboarders were having fun at the other end of the park facing the Skyway bridge. I don’t often see girls kiteboarding but the one in the bottom shot was keeping up with the boys.

The rain was starting to move in so I headed home.

Pretty things in November

On January 26, 2021January 26, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants3 Comments

I always love coming around the corner on the sidewalk and seeing the big burst of pink in the air. The huge silk floss tree at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo blooms in the fall. I was there at the end of the blooms but there were still some left on the tree and the fruit was starting to come out. I could also see a parakeet high up in the tree.

Other plants at the gardens.

The giant milkweed plant was covered in caterpillars in the middle of November. This was before it was starting to get cold so I hope these guys all made it through.

It was a quiet day for birds.

Long walk on the trails

On January 25, 2021January 6, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Looks like a good morning for a walk.

Still a little bit of yellow along the trail.

I found these young juvenile purple gallinules feeding along the trail. One was almost completely purple and the other hadn’t quite got his bright purple feathers in yet.

Views from the trail including that small alligator cruising along the lake.

The long walk around. I took the long way around Eagle’s Roost Trail to avoid the crowds later in the morning. I had the trail all to myself. This was right before my hip started hurting so I’ve only made a short trip back since then and stayed close to the parking lot area,

Lots of little birds

On January 23, 2021January 6, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

The usual birds were at Chesnut Park in early November. A Carolina wren and a titmouse with a snack.

These look like immature pine warblers with that little bit of white around the eye.

A pine warbler.

I’m not sure what this is above. Might be a red eyed vireo. He was a little harder to catch.

This one was deep in the tree. I think it’s a blue headed vireo.

I’m wondering if these are the baby bluebirds from this spring that are now grown up. They were still acting like young birds. They were in the same spot, by the playground.

The usual tiny alligator at the dock. (There were many there, this one was the most visible).

Out and about one afternoon

On January 21, 2021January 4, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I headed out to Fort Desoto late in the afternoon in early November. There wasn’t a lot of birds around later in the day but it was a beautiful afternoon.

Way out in the bay,

The sun was started to get lower at my favorite spot.

I drove over to the gulf pier before leaving.

Looking back at the old smoke stack.

Silhouettes of birds flying near the pier.

The sun still had a ways to go and I had to get home so I quickly snapped the above.

Visiting another country in my own town

On January 19, 2021January 19, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights2 Comments

On a random Thursday morning off in November I finally headed out to see the Hindu Temple of Tampa. It’s not far from my house and I had recently heard about it so I decided to go on a weekday morning since it can get crowded on the weekends (especially with the weather being so nice now and you cannot wear shorts there). Just 15 minutes away and it was like another world. You can go inside the temple but you can’t take pictures so these are all of the outside. The inside was small but with an amazing burst of colors. You can see pictures inside the temple here on their website.

Is that a bird’s nest I see on the top? It’s probably an osprey nest but would be great if it’s an eagle’s nest. I will have to come by here again later in January to see if it’s being occupied.

The carvings and details all around the building were breathtaking. I took a ton of pictures and it was hard to narrow it down to post.

Out near the parking lot was a small shrine under a native Indian tree. Behind the tree was a small lake which made it very serene.

The sun was peaking over the other side of the building and people were starting to arrive for a function so it was time to head home. You can tour the inside as long as there are no services going on (no shoes allowed inside as well as no shorts so you have to walk around barefoot or with socks). I’ve heard on the weekends they have a market and you can buy Indian food to eat on the grounds (probably the reason for the crowds). I’ll have to stop by here again soon.

Things at the marina

On January 18, 2021March 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights2 Comments

Trying to stay off my legs (due to hip bursitis) but not wanting to stay at home, I headed out for the Dunedin marina and fishing pier early one morning in mid-November. I spent the morning just hanging out, sitting on benches watching the activity around the marina. From the shots above, it was pretty quiet that morning.

I did see a manatee cruising around the boats in the marina.

This anhinga was having fish for breakfast.

Some of the birds also hanging around the marina, a green heron and lots of pelicans.

A spotted sandpiper was digging around the exposed muck at the boat ramp.

Pelicans, wood ducks and swans (Oh my!).

On January 16, 2021January 8, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Lake Morton in Lakeland is a good spot to find white pelicans in the winter besides Fort Desoto. There are a lot fewer at Lake Morton but you can usually get closer. They hang out on the brick retaining walls around the lake. Most of the time they are sleeping when I’m there but on a recent trip they were moving around a little. I think two of them were fighting over space on the floating pole.

A coot swimming by.

Wood ducks were napping up in the cypress trees and some were swimming around the lake.

There’s always turtles sitting on the cypress knees.

The city of Lakeland were selling swans in late October. When I was there they were in holding pens on the lake. I felt bad that they were leaving their home but there have been banner crops of babies over the last few years and the lake is over-run with swans. Swans were getting hit by cars and fighting with each other. Hopefully they’ll go to homes that have more room for them. If I had a small pond on my property I would buy a pair. The money goes back into the fund to feed the swans at this lake.

Just catching sunrise.

On January 14, 2021January 4, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I use to set my alarm to get up early on the weekends but lately my internal alarm has been going off early and I got out of bed one Saturday morning in November and headed to Circle B Bar Reserve. Although, not that early since the sun was just peaking out as I hit the trails. It’s the perfect time to be there, quiet and not many people there yet. You can hear the birds starting to talk and the whistling ducks were starting to fly back and forth.

One of my favorite views in the morning.

There wasn’t a lot of different birds out. The usuals were there (moorhens, whistlers, herons, egrets, cormorants) but I didn’t see many uncommon birds. The above are fairly common in the winter (female common yellowthroat, house wren and the purple gallinules) but sometimes a little bit harder to find.

Some of the smaller critters along the trail.

The eagle’s nest is pretty far away but I could still see both eagles on the nest. Maybe she’s looking at her eggs in the nest? Might have been a little early but soon.