Critters on my November walks

On March 7, 2026March 7, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

In early November I was out walking along the Safety Harbor waterfront. The fishing pier that was destroyed by the hurricanes (in late 2024) was getting close to being finished. On this morning they still had to put the rails up and finish the end but the birds were enjoying the pilings.

This anhinga was trying to chill on the boardwalk so I took a quick video from far away and left.

Another morning I was out at Philippe Park, climbing the stairs. Those rock piles in the top picture (just above the railing) are man-made oyster beds that were installed to help the oysters grow here and help with erosion. Oysters are natural water filters and will help keep the water in the top of the bay clean.

I’m finding these little shells all over the place.

Another morning I was out on the Dunedin causeway and stopped to watch the shorebirds flying back and forth. It looks like these are sanderlings.

I was able to catch some of them landing. These are mostly ruddy turnstones and short billed dowitchers.

Another morning and I’m out at the Dunedin marina. I walked north towards the Weaver Park fishing pier. The pier is still closed due to damage from the hurricanes (the end was torn off). It is slated to be rebuilt in 2027.

Walking back to my car I could see an immature eagle (he still had a lot of brown on his head). He was chasing an osprey with a fish. I was wishing I had my camera.

The eagle and osprey went behind some trees and somehow the fish was taken from the osprey. The eagle landed in a nearby tree and was trying to eat his prize.

Both the osprey and crows were diving at the eagle. It’s not like either or going to get that fish from the eagle. The eagle moved farther into the tree and started to eat.

My last view of the eagle before heading back to my car. I don’t see this often.

Baby critter season was in full swing.

On September 6, 2025October 15, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

I made it back to the ruby throated hummingbird nest at Chesnut Park just in time to catch Mom feeding the little babies in early May. Zooming in with my 600mm lens I could see 2 tiny beaks peeking out over the top of the nest. Mom was feeding the one on the left in the 2nd shot.

This is an uncropped shot with my camera. The nest is across the river and up in a tree. I’m not sure who the first person was that found this nest. Talk about a needle in a haystack. I guess the hummingbird buzzed by them on the trail and they followed it with their eyes to the other side and saw it land.

I didn’t stay long at the nest. Walking along the boardwalk I spotted the usual birds, a limpkin and a male anhinga drying off his wings.

There’s always a lot of baby moorhens in the spring.

I was able to find the green frogs again since they were spending time near the small dock. An alligator was close by the frogs.

I ran into some friends on the back boardwalk and we were talking about how the 2nd raccoon family had moved from their original tree. I had not seen them yet and thought I would miss them. As we were looking around for the owl we saw this baby raccoon stick his head out of a hole. I took the above with my phone.

The Mom had moved her 3 babies to a tree farther down the boardwalk. We only got a look at the one baby but could hear some noises coming from the tree. I heard a few weeks later the family was seen moving around the area, the babies all grown up.

A doe was watching us take pictures of the raccoon.

Looking up at the trees I could see the sun was up high and it was time to go home.

When I got back to my car the above were feeding right in front of the parking area.

A pretty red tree and a big alligator

On August 30, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

I made another trip to the bird rookery in north Tampa in early May. The royal poinciana tree near the little park area was blooming and the wood storks were hanging out in it while taking a break from feeding the little ones.

A wood stork flew right in front of me and got a drink of water.

The baby great egrets were screaming to be fed.

A young black crowned night heron was also screaming for Mom to feed him.

A young moorhen gets a snack from Mom.

There were a lot of glossy ibis but they stayed in the far back and it’s hard to see their babies until they are flying.

A female anhinga panting in the heat.

I’ve seen tiny alligators in the pond but this was the first big one I’ve seen here. He climbed right up on the bank and plopped down for a while.

He walked around the bank and into the street, then turned around and headed back down in the pond and under the water. I had my 600mm lens with me so these are pretty far away and cropped up.

A cold cloudy walk along the waterfront

On April 2, 2025May 11, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

I love these winter mornings in mid-January. It’s nice to be able to wear long sleeve shirts and a light jacket during my morning walk. I was at the Safety Harbor waterfront and it was 55 degrees. I could just barely make out the Tampa skyline across the bay.

The tide was low and there was still a lot of pier debris in the water from the hurricanes. New stuff floats in with every tide. After my walk along the water and Main Street I headed back to my car at the marina.

I noticed pelicans sitting in the tall mangroves along the back of the marina so I got my camera out of the car and snapped the above.

I was watching a cormorant (the orange beaked bird on the left) swimming around just under the water and was waiting for him to surface back up, hopefully with a fish. All of a sudden I noticed a horned grebe swimming up. They are not that common here but some winters we get a few of them passing through.

Two cormorants were synchronized swimming, passing right in front of me.

Then I realized there were 2 horned grebes. They are tiny diving ducks with beautiful red eyes.

A female anhinga stands guard on the channel marker.

A pelican flies close by.

The pelicans were diving for fish close to the marina and the laughing gulls would swoop in and try to steal the fish from their pouches when they brought their faces up. In the 2nd shot I caught a Forster’s tern (on the right) diving for a fish.

A yellow crowned night heron flies by and lands in the nearby muck.

Then a great blue heron flew by me and landed in front of the night heron. The night heron started quickly walking away. He wasn’t going to argue with a great blue heron that “he was here first”.

A ride around the neighborhood

On January 18, 2025January 8, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I went for a bike ride in the neighborhood the day before Hurricane Milton came. A lot of people had evacuated the area and there wasn’t a lot of traffic early in the morning. The golf course behind our house was closed so I started out there.

Mushrooms were growing everywhere from all of the recent rain.

The ponds along the golf course behind our homes were already full and we were due to get a ton of rain when Milton hit. I noticed the neighbor down the street had a hurricane flag out.

A great egret and female anhinga down the street.

This goldenrain tree was blooming.

On the other side of the neighborhood I found some fun birds in a ditch. The water was high so wood storks, a snowy egret and a spoonbill were feeding along the ditch.

These ladies gave me a quick glance as I slowed down to snap the above.

The sun came out for a short while as I was making my way home. This pond down the street from our house was full of egrets and snowy egrets.

The usual suspects.

On December 11, 2024January 21, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

It was not that early in the morning at the start of October when I went for a walk at the Roosevelt Wetlands. The sun was already high in the sky over the marsh.

All of the usual birds were there including a green heron and two tricolored herons.

Another usual bird, a female anhinga, was drying off her wings.

I was hoping to see some winter ducks but it was still a little early and most of the ducks were mallards.

There was a lone blue winged teal. Hopefully more will show up soon.

A loggerhead shrike in his element, sitting on a wire.

A male anhinga (on the far right) was crashing this tricolored heron convention.

Another usual thing here is a white peacock.

Most of the parks along the coast were closed due to flooding from Hurricane Helene and Roosevelt Wetlands was one of the few open in early October. The water levels were high but the trail was still dry. I was hoping to find some fall migraters or early winter birds but only the usual suspects were here.

Critters at the marina

On November 25, 2024November 25, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

In early September I was out for an early walk at the Dunedin marina.

I was standing on the pier and a cormorant popped up right below me.

As I walked around the marina I noticed a big blob in the water in front of the boats on the right. Several manatees were hanging out in between the docks. At first they were in the middle of the channel (to the right of the yellow arrow).

I stood there for a while keeping my eye out for them. A few minutes later they came a little closer to the sea wall. There were at least 2 of them.

Then they came right up to the sea wall. I could see their snouts coming up for air in between the shadows of the railing and at one point one of them showed his big backside.

This green heron was not afraid of my shadow.

An anhinga sits on a boat lift crane.

I always see little ruddy turnstones walking around the rocks in front of the marina. They pick the bugs out of the oyster shells attached to the rocks.

Even though the clouds were moving in a boat heads out for an afternoon cruise.

Cloudy and sunny morning walks

On July 8, 2024July 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I was out for a long walk in early May on the Dunedin causeway. There was a chance of rain but we had been dry for so long I didn’t think it would really rain. The south side of the causeway is sand and beach. The above is the north side, all rocks so you don’t really want to get in the water from this side. I like to walk on this side because there is less traffic. The tide was low and you can see the seaweed piled up on the rocks.

Far away you can see Tarpon Springs.

After walking on the causeway I headed over for a quick walk at the nearby marina. It still looked like it would rain which was nice because it kept it cooler.

I took a break on the floating dock to hang out with some pelicans. They are not shy here mostly because they are looking for a handout.

The sailboat that was stuck on the rocks was still there. It was in bad shape.

A few days later I was back on the causeway and this morning it was sunny and hot. The drought was in full force and we just wanted it to be cloudy so it wouldn’t be so hot.

Another walk around the marina and I saw a few of the usual birds besides pelicans. Great egrets and anhingas are always hanging out on the docked boats but I also saw something I had not seen here before. There were 2 northern rough-winged swallows (bottom shot). I only got a quick shot of one before it took off across the marina. I was wishing I had my camera with me and had to shoot with my phone.

Out and about

On May 2, 2024April 22, 2024 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).

Sunny and stormy in the same morning.

On November 16, 2023November 12, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants7 Comments

I was out not very early one morning this summer and headed to Safety Harbor. I first stopped by the fishing pier hoping to see manatees. They were dredging the boat channel next to the pier and it must have scared away the manatees. I didn’t see any here while they were dredging.

I caught this anhinga catching some fish. Above were taken right into the sun.

Then she came around to the other side of the pier and caught what looked like a needlefish. After flipping it around a few times she swallowed it quickly.

Another sighting of a spotted eagle ray. It’s hard to get a good shot of them. They are so big and swim by really quickly, just under the surface.

I made a stop at nearby Folly Farms and was able to find a few tiny flying things in the butterfly garden. There were a lot of monarchs and bees but not much else.

Dark clouds had moved in so I went back over to the fishing pier before heading home. There was a great storm out in the bay right in front of the pier but no lightning. That rain did not make it over to my house. Ugh.