Month: May 2024

A morning out on water

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals, Tampa bay sights2 Comments

My sister and I were out at Sand Key beach early in the morning to look for shells since we had a 10am dolphin tour booked nearby.  We didn’t find a lot of shells at this beach compared to Honeymoon Island but I did find some interesting clam shells. The 1st one looks like it had the insides coming out. I couldn’t tell if it was alive but the tide was coming in and would wash it back out.  The next two are front and back of another shell I picked up. It had a lot of things living on it. The barnacles were still alive so I tossed it back in the water.

At the Clearwater marina, waiting for our boat tour to leave.

We went by the new Clearwater Sound. It’s an outdoor music venue that sits next to the big public library.

A view of the intercoastal waterway.

A view from the small spoil island we stopped at.

An empty urchin that Debbie found on the little beach. This came home with us.

Heading back into the marina. We saw lots of dolphins and I realized I didn’t take any pictures of them. I just had my phone with me and stayed in the back so everyone else could see the dolphins up close. It’s fun seeing the reactions when the kids see them.

Lunch was at an open air restaurant at the marina. Above is the view from our table.

We walked around a bit and saw some of the early half day fishing boats coming in after lunch. You can buy fresh fish right off the boat if they have a big catch. The pelicans hang around hoping for a hand out.

If you are ever in the Clearwater area I highly recommend taking the Encounters With Dolphins tour out of Clearwater Beach. We have taken several and always had a great time.

an image of a red sports car with a lady caricature going at Vroom Vroom high speed, Senior Salon Pit Stop Vroom Vroom LinkupInspire Me Monday

 

A new owl family

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

After the loss of both great horned owl parents (and babies) in 2022 in a nearby park from rat poison I was hesitant to stop by when I heard a new couple had moved into the nest tree. New owls met and paired up last year and hung around the nest for several months but did not have babies. I never did make it over there because I was still heart broken after the loss of the family the year before. The locals named them Odie and Dory (named after Odet Philippe and his wife Dorothy who were the first settlers in Safety Harbor and brought grapefruit to the area). This year I heard they were back and on a nest so I stopped by in late January to see Dory up on the nest.

Odie was nearby napping in the moss.

In early February I made another stop and Dory was still on the nest but there was a rumor that someone had seen a tiny baby on the nest. She was acting like something was going on but we didn’t see any feeding yet.  Maybe the baby was still too small to see and the nest was much higher up and harder to see.

Two weeks later we could see the baby. This was right before sunset and we waited until dark hoping to catch a feeding but Dad didn’t come in with food until it was too dark to shoot anything.

A week later I took my sister over to see the owls while she was visiting. Odie was moving around and being cute. It looked like he was eating a bug on the branch.

The baby was sitting up on a branch a few feet away from Mom where it was very visible.  It mostly slept while we were there and we didn’t stay long. This was the last I saw of it. I heard a few days later the baby was seen injured and then disappeared. People think another raptor must have gotten the baby. The non-expert owl watchers were thinking since Dory was a new Mom she wasn’t sure how to take care of it. Either way it was sad again. We’ll have to wait until next winter to see if they nest again.

Out and about

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

Views from my early March walk at the Dunedin causeway. I saw something moving down in the water and peeked over the seawall to see an anhinga drying off on a shelf. He was like “Don’t be looking over in my spot.”. I took these with my phone so he was really close.

When I got over to the marina I found a great egret and pelican on the dock. They are so used to be around people on this dock that they are not very skittish. The pelican eventually when back in to the water to start feeding again.

Just me and my shadow during low tide in front of the marina. The water was like glass this morning.

The view through the mangroves.

The purple martins were back in their condos. They were bringing in nesting material. I had wished I brought my camera. The above was with my phone.

A few days later I was out running errands and stopped by the big Kapok Tree nearby. It was just past peak blooming and the ground was covered with blooms. I grabbed a few from the ground to take back home. The old historic building that started as a restaurant now houses a music store. The music store is closing and the locals hope the building doesn’t get torn down and replaced with condos (which seems to be happening everywhere around here).

SkyWatch Friday