Tag: bay pines national cemetery

Watching the birds catch bait fish

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

On Christmas eve I made my usual trip down to south St. Pete to the Bay Pines National Cemetery to visit my parents. I didn’t stay long and it was such a beautiful day that I decided to swing by the beach on the way home to stop at one of my Dad’s favorite places, the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary. 

This rescue, rehabilitate and release sanctuary sits right on Indian Shores Beach. They also house many permanently injured birds.  It looks like it was feeding time.

A couple of quick videos of them feeding. It was funny to watch the white pelican stick his whole head in to get the fish.  Then the snowy egrets said “Hey, I can do that too!”.

They were catching live bait fish in the tubs.

Pretty faces. Most of the pelicans are missing a wing or eye.

A wild night heron hangs out hoping for a free snack.

A shot of the view from the deck on the way to the beach.

Saturday's Critters

 

Looking for a duck

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

It was a dark and dreary day during the week before Christmas. I had heard about a rare duck being seen in south St. Pete so I headed out ready to brave the weather. (You northerners will laugh at me. It was 50 degrees and I was bundled up, glad that I wasn’t up there in that crazy snow.) The black scoter had been seen just off the boat ramp at War Veterans Memorial Park. It would be a first sighting for me if I find it.

I hit all of the areas in the park and could not find that duck. The wind was blasting so she might have floated farther south. I noticed a small spoil island that had a lot of pelicans hiding from the wind.

The small beach area at the tip of the park held a few shorebirds. A lone willet was digging for food.

A lone red knot was doing the same.

A semipalmated plover was trying to nap.

More pelicans preening out on a spit.

Not sure if this is because of the extreme low tide or if this boat has been stranded for a while here. It looked a little damaged.

Bay Pines National Cemetery was next door to the park so I stopped in to visit my parents (Dad was in WW2). The graves were decorated with wreaths.

I did not find the black scoter that morning but all was not lost. Weeks later another one was spotted closer to home. More on that one later.

Inspire Me Monday

Visiting my parents

On By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights2 Comments

Wreaths Across America is a donation/volunteer based group that puts wreaths on the graves of veterans across the country. I took this at Bay Pines National Cemetary in mid-December last year when I stopped by to visit my parents grave. They were still laying wreaths but it was beautiful to see them all laid out across the field.

Some of the graves had more personal touches that were added by family members.

The memorial monument dedicated to those who served our country stands at the entrance.

Our World Tuesday Graphic

Happy 4th of July!

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights7 Comments

Brett and I were leaving the house to go out for a drive on Memorial Day. We were heading to the Bay Pines Veterans National Cemetery where my parents are buried for a walk and then to pick up lunch to bring home. Driving out the back way and past some apartments we saw a juvenile eagle sitting on utility box. Of course I yelled for Brett to stop. I had my camera in the car so he pulled over and I was able to get a few shots before the eagle took off. It’s not every day that you have an eagle pooping in your neighborhood.

He circled around over my head and then took off over the tree.

These babies were swimming around below him so he must have been hoping to get one but ended up leaving empty handed. Unless he came back later. There are a lot less babies in this family now.

Every Memorial Day Boy Scout troops put flags on the graves at the cemetery. It’s really impressive (but sad) to drive through and see all of the flags.