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.

A hot morning walk with the usual critters

On October 30, 2023April 9, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

All of the usual big birds were at Chesnut Park for my morning walk in late June (anhinga, yellow crowned night heron, limpkin).

The wood duck babies were almost fully grown.

Birds were flying overhead (royal tern, osprey).

Things were blooming in the swamp.

Deer and bunnies were easy to spot.

I don’t often see barred owls here but this one was very visible, taking a nap along the boardwalk.

A cardinal was eating the seed that someone had left on the boardwalk.

A bike ride through the neighborhood

On August 3, 2023July 18, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

In mid-April I headed out for a quick bike ride around the neighborhood. I wasn’t expecting to find much but I still put my camera in my backpack. As soon as I got down the street I saw the above swallow tailed kite flying around in circles and followed him farther down the street to the utility field. I was thinking he was going to head past the trees and disappear but I stopped and pulled my camera out and waited anyway. He did come back around and for once I was ready. He was still far away but I was able to get one shot of him eating something while flying, assuming it’s a dragonfly.

The swallow tailed kite flew away and as I was putting my camera back in the backpack I saw something fly into the bushes out of the corner of my eye. It was an eastern kingbird. A first sighting in my neighborhood. He flew over to the sign and posed for a while.

I stopped by the only osprey nest in the neighborhood that’s actually in a tree. There are tons of them here but the rest are on a platform or utility pole. I still haven’t seen a baby in this nest but it’s up high and they could be sleeping.

Other usual neighborhood birds include a yellow crowned night heron, an anhinga sunning himself and a juvenile little blue heron that is just starting to turn blue.

I saw an adult eagle flying from the other end of the neighborhood and land on a utility tower with another eagle.

Of course the tower was right into the sun but I could see them out in the field sitting on the tower. I’m thinking this is the other couple that has a nest farther down the field.

Of course a bike ride wouldn’t be complete without an alligator sighting or several. This was a tiny one sitting on the bank of a small pond, almost blending in.

More shots from the rookery

On April 8, 2023March 29, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

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.

Rolling in

On March 2, 2023March 3, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights6 Comments

I had to get out of the house so I went for a short mini walk in late January at the Dunedin marina and the fog started rolling in. It started out sunny but got foggy pretty quickly.

Standing on the pier, looking back into the marina, I could see the sun trying to stay out. It cast a sleepy glow back on land.

Out in the water I would see a fog bow.

The usual docile birds were hanging out on the pier.

The sea fog kept rolling in and getting thicker as I was leaving.

Finally out with my camera

On January 7, 2023December 29, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

In late November I was finally out with my camera since having my shoulder surgery in early October, I could still only pick up 3lbs so I had my older smaller camera on my lightest lens. All together they were at 3.5 lbs so I was cheating a little but kept the camera in my left hand for most of the time. It felt good to be out walking around with it but I had an old 300mm lens and didn’t have much reach. I headed to the Dunedin marina for a long walk and then pulled the camera out of the car and walked around by the boats for a short while.

There were a few shorebirds at the tiny beach in front of the marina. Willets and ruddy turnstones are always there.

Something spooked these semi-palmated plovers several times.

One of the resident osprey sitting on a sailboat mast. They have a nest right in the parking lot here so I’m looking forward to keeping tabs on the babies this year.

An anhinga resting on the old abandoned boat.

A phone shot, this old sailboat got wedge up against the channel marker during Hurricane Nicole in early November and has been stuck there ever since. It’s a great place for the birds to rest.

A great egret posing nicely.

Pelicans around the marina.

A manatee was right up against the sea wall. This was taken with my phone. The shadows of the railing were a little tough though.

I was on the way home and stopped at a red light when I saw a ton of white pelicans flying high coming towards me. I pulled over into the shopping center and was able to snap the above. This was only a small portion of them. There were at least 4 more of these cruising around the area. It was amazing to watch them swooping around and cruising.