Out on the beach at Fort Desoto in July, I found a few birds including a laughing gull, a semi palmated plover and a sanderling.
The marbled godwits were busy feeding.
A reddish egret flies in from across the lagoon.
Out on the fishing pier, the birds were lined up waiting for someone to drop their bait fish.
This great egret was looking a little rough. I’m thinking he’s molting.
A cormorant busy preening on the light post.
A ship heading out for a long voyage.
It was a cold quiet windy day at Fort Desoto in early January. I walked out to the north beach and saw nothing as far as the eye could see. Then this flash of movement caught my eye. A lone female red breasted merganser. She didn’t stay long and neither did I.
I headed over to the fishing pier and found a ring billed gull with a snack. The laughing gull was trying it’s best to steal it away but he wasn’t successful.
This was a scene all over the park. Osprey getting ready to start nesting and were coupling up. They both were eating fish.
Far away I could see skimmers, gulls and terns flying around.
The Clipper was cruising by the fishing pier.
It was a little creepy out on the beach. I only saw a few other people. We were all bundled up this morning.
It was extremely low tide. The clouds were getting darker so I decided not to head out on the spit. Even with the low tide I’d have to slosh through some water and wasn’t up for having cold feet this morning. I still love the beach here even on a day like this.
A few of the usual birds at Fort Desoto including a crow with an apple, a loggerhead shrike and our favorite hybrid great blue heron/great egret.
It’s rare to see the ghost crabs out of their holes. They are pretty skittish.
Heading into Tampa bay.
A quiet morning on the beach. Very few people here. This was the Saturday before Hurricane Dorian was headed our way. On this morning it was forecasted to head straight across the state and hit us on Monday so many people had canceled their vacation plans. Little did we know at this point it would stall over the Bahamas and then head north.
A phone pano of the north beach tip.
