Diving for breakfast

On January 26, 2026February 5, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

More sunrise shots from my visit to Fort Desoto Park in October.

Zooming in with my camera I could see some barges out in front of the bridge.

When I first got to the north beach I saw 2 white pelicans floating in the lagoon. There had been hundreds here a few days before but this was all I saw on this morning. Two more flew by right before the sun was up over the trees.

Shorebirds in the sunrise.

Brown pelicans were diving for bait fish far off the beach. It was funny to watch the laughing gulls trying to steal the fish from the pelican’s beak.

A Cooper’s hawk flies overhead, scaring and flushing the shorebirds.

After leaving the beach I stopped by the Arrowhead trail to peek out across the water and I could see the tons of white pelicans far off a spoil island. They were hiding there this morning instead of feeding in the lagoon off the beach.

Boat traffic along the water.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) at Image-In-Ing.

The dolphin show at Fort Desoto Park

On September 29, 2025October 15, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals4 Comments

Rush hour traffic heading in and out of Tampa Bay. I was out on the beach at Fort Desoto Park at the end of May and the boats come pretty close as they go by.

After looking for birds I always stop by the pier looking for anything interesting to see. Sometimes I see rare ducks floating around or different birds flying by and if not then there’s always dolphins to watch.

A snowy egret was eating someone’s bait fish.

It’s not often I don’t see a dolphin or two swimming around the pier although sometimes they are too far out to get a decent shot. This morning there were several swimming close to the pier.

Two kept swimming under the pier and it looked like a Mom and her almost grown baby that was sticking close to her.

I took so many videos with my phone. These are my 3 favorite ones. They were so close and kept swimming through the bait fish that swims under the dock. It was such an amazing thing to see them this close and out in the wild. It never gets old.

More boats from the pier. They pass through between the park and the small island of Egmont Key.

Sunrise and the dolphin show

On July 28, 2025August 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals4 Comments

Another early morning at Fort Desoto Park. It was mid-April and I was going down to the park (about an hour south of me) regularly since it was spring migration time. Besides seeing different birds coming through, the sunrise was later and we could get in to see the sun come up from the beach (the park opens at 7am). The mosquitoes weren’t bad yet and those pesky summer tourists hadn’t arrived yet in big numbers.

Seafoam on the beach.

Turning around I noticed the moon was still up high as the sun came up.

Someone had left this shoe on a tree along the trail. It must have been in the water a long time with all of the barnacles on it.

This view never gets old.

Boat traffic headed in and out of the bay.

After a walk on the trails and the beach I stopped at the gulf fishing pier before leaving. The dolphins were busy trying to steal fish from the fishermen and were coming close to the pier.

This one came right up under the pier and I could see his fresh scars. I’m not sure what could have made those. He might have scraped his head along the pier pilings trying to get bait fish.

A quick video taken with my phone as he glided under the pier.

Round trip across the bay

On May 28, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights8 Comments

Above is a view of downtown Tampa from the water. This was my 2nd trip across the bay on the Cross Bay ferry. My first was back in 2019 when my sisters were visiting. Since my sister and her husband were visiting in late February we decided to do it again. This time we started in Tampa since the Indy Grand Prix race was going on in St. Pete and we wouldn’t be able to park anywhere nearby there.

Passing by the cruise ships.

Red was the color of the day. I guess it’s so you can see the boats better, in case you can’t see those big guys on the water.

Picking up the pace as we head out into the open bay. Tampa was far behind us.

As we approached St. Pete we went farther south and came in south of downtown, on the other side of the airport. We docked near the Florida Fish & Wildlife docks and as we got off the boat we could hear the cars from the race loudly buzzing around the track (since it was Friday they were practicing but boy was it loud).

We only had about 30 minutes to walk around before our boat left to go back so we just walked around the marina area where we docked.

The sun was just starting to go down as we made our way back to Tampa.

Passing a tugboat before getting into Tampa.

We got back just as the sun was going down (Tampa General hospital is on the left). It was a beautiful late afternoon on the water and the tickets are a great price to be out on the water for a few hours. The ferry only runs in the winter here and then goes back up north for the summer. I need to make more of an effort to get out and do more tourist type things like this in the winter.

Always looking for something else

On February 1, 2024January 20, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

The sun was coming up over the north beach at Fort Desoto on the morning I was there looking for white pelicans. I was parked across the water close to where the sun was coming up and had walked around the lagoon to get out to the north end of Outback Key. You have to go wading to get across the the key. Some days it’s ankle deep and some days in knee deep.

I usually have something specific I’m looking for here but I can always find a ton of other things as well. I was heading back from spotting the few white pelicans and ran into a lone whimbrel walking around in the grass on the beach.

The great blue heron was trying to steal this guys bait fish and he chased him off with a fish in his hand. Don’t drop that fish!

A typical scene on the beach. Two great egrets hanging out in the dunes.

Another great blue heron flies by.

A least sandpiper was taking a bath.

Another one (on the far right) was feeding with the sanderlings.

A lesser yellowlegs couple.

A lone marbled godwit digging in the sand.

The beach was covered with jellyfish.

On the pier, a ruddy turnstone was picking at a piece of fish.

Rush hour traffic on the water.

Another morning at Fort Desoto

On December 4, 2023April 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

It was a beautiful morning in early September. I was at Fort Desoto looking for the flamingoes again. I had made 2 trips out already and had only seen 1 each time. I had heard there were several here the day before.

Again, I found one at the north beach tip and it took me a while to hike out near it. I snapped a few shots and it took off over the trees. They don’t stay long in the lagoon here.

I headed over to the fishing pier before leaving and caught the boat rush hour traffic.

A manatee made a brief appearance near the pier with only his snout coming up for air.

I found some of these cool sea creatures in the shallow water.

Pictures from around the park taken with my phone.

A pacific in the gulf?

On March 9, 2023March 10, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I had high hopes as I drove into Fort Desoto Park in early February. I was looking for the rare Pacific Loon that had been seen there the day before. It was seen right off the fishing pier so I figured it’s a short walk on the pier and I wouldn’t have to hike in the woods looking for it. Although I also knew it could be a wild goose chase and was I loony for driving down here to look for it?

When I first got to the pier there were a lot of people that had already spotted it (several had scopes). Way out in the bay. There were 3 little dots floating around. Two were common loons and the third was the Pacific. I shot the above quickly thinking that might be the only one I got if they took off.

After a while he floated closer to the pier. We get common loons here in the winter so most people, including me, would not have given it a 2nd look since they both almost look the same in their non-breeding feathers. The Pacific has a faint chin strap on his neck that makes him different than the loon as well as a thinner bill. I have to say the local expert birders really know their details.

This is a map of where you can find Pacific loons so the big question is “What is he doing in Florida?”.

He quickly made his way closer to the pier so I was able to get a better look at him. In the first shot you can just barely see the chin strap. This was a first for me as well as most of the people that had driven from all over Florida to see it.

A few of the usual birds include a snowy egret and a great blue heron. I took the shot of the great blue heron with my phone. I was standing next to a guy fishing for bait fish and that heron was not giving up his spot to catch any fall out.

A tiny black bellied plover on the jetty.

Looking out on the bay at the tower, the cormorants and pelicans were having a nice quiet morning.

Some big “boats” passing by the pier.

In the parking lot I found a pair of osprey working on their nest. This one was decorated with some nice greenery.

I stopped at the East Beach turnaround before leaving.

Sleepy birds on the beach

On October 10, 2022October 10, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I was out at Fort Desoto in late August and started the long hike to the north tip where most of the shorebirds hang out. The lagoon beach area was full of little birds sleeping including red knots.

They were all taking a morning nap.

I passed a big flock of semipalmated plovers hanging out together on the beach with a few sanderlings mixed in.

They look so cute when they are sleeping.

Marbled godwits have been common along the beach here.

A royal tern flying by with a snack.

I had waded out waist deep in the water to get far enough away to shoot the birds on the beach with the sun at least to the side. It was a little bit cooler doing this and made me realize it was beautiful being out past the sea oats.

Big boats cruising past the pier.

Heading into sunrise

On September 30, 2021September 12, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights5 Comments

I was running late but it was just as well since there was that small cloud bank right at the earth’s surface. I was trying to get to Fort Desoto for sunrise, although since they don’t open until 7am I would have gotten it already risen anyway. Since there was no one else around, I stopped for a few seconds and shot this out the window with my phone at the top of the bridge before going into the park. I hadn’t been down to the park in 3 months due to red tide so I was pretty excited to be here early.

Stopping right before the entrance, the clouds were making the sun a little hazy.

The color was soft at the East Beach turnaround, looking towards the Sunshine Skyway bridge.

Half an hour later the sun was already high up. I headed over for a quick walk at the bay pier. Seeing the bait shop, it always makes me think it would be a great house to live in out on this pier. To wake up and peek out the window at the sunrise over the water every morning would be pretty cool.

Big boats on the water. It was a beautiful morning out and the dolphins were pretty close to the pier (more on those later).

Crossing Tampa Bay

On January 16, 2020January 15, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights4 Comments

It’s funny that we took 3 ferry rides while we were in Boston but have never taken the ferry across Tampa bay. It’s hard to do fun tourist things when you are working and on a schedule. When my sisters came to visit we booked the ferry from St. Pete to Tampa. It’s a little less than an hour each way. It was fun hanging out and being a tourist. As we headed to Tampa we got close to the TECO electric plant. It was so nice out that there were a lot of boats on the water.