A January walk in Tarpon Springs

On April 27, 2026April 27, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights2 Comments

In early January I was out for a walk at Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs. I like walking here in the winter because I can walk along the water and the traffic to the beach is low since it’s too cold for most people to go to the beach. The tide was super low this morning. I could see the smaller Sunset Beach Park across the water.

This guy on a skateboard knew how to give his dogs a better walk with minimal effort.

Cormorants like to hang out on this small jetty on the causeway.

Pretty beach sunflowers on the beach.

Kayaks ready to go out. Maybe later.

Looking back when I’m almost back to my car.

I stopped by Craig Park on the way home and the Epiphany boats were still in the water. The city of Tarpon Springs celebrates the Epiphany in a big way here. You can read about my post when I attended the celebration in 2022 here.

Nesting season was in full swing.

On July 5, 2025August 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

In early April I made the first trip of the bird nesting season to the north Tampa bird rookery. The small island in the middle of the big pond looked the same as last year. The cypress tree closest to land had fallen down and was laying on it’s side in the pond. The only remaining tree was in the far back and it was full of cormorants nesting.

The great egrets were busy flirting and showing off their breeding feathers. Even though there were a lot of babies many of them were just getting started.

I could easily see two great egret nests. One had chicks a little older than the other.

Some of the other nests had some babies screaming for Mom to feed them.

This nest had some older babies and Mom was busy feeding them. In the last shot you can see some regurgitated fish sliding down Mom’s throat and into the baby’s beak.

Wood storks staying cool in the heat of the afternoon.

A full wood stork nest with three babies. The one laying down on the left looks much younger than his siblings.

An older wood stork baby posing for the camera.

A walk on the causeway

On June 4, 2025July 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography9 Comments

It was pretty cloudy when I first got out to the end of the causeway at Fred Howard Park in early March. It was supposed to be a sunny morning. The sun was just coming up behind the clouds and it looked like the cormorants were just waking up. I’m thinking they must sleep here on the backside of the little beach because it’s closed at night so they probably don’t get bothered.

The clouds were starting to part as I walked the causeway.

A lone great blue heron was standing on the rail. He let me get pretty close before taking off when more people stopped to look. I took the above with my phone.

A little later I saw a lot of cormorants hanging out on the rocks on the jetty. They must move to the jetty as more people show up on the beach.

A view of the island beach area from half way down the causeway.

Why did the ruddy turnstone cross the road??!??

A great egret was keeping an eye on the nearby fisherman, hoping to steal his bait.

Water toys lined up waiting for the tourists. It was going to warm up later in the afternoon so I’m sure many would get used.

A little blue heron was dancing for his fish.

The sun was fully out by the time I got back to my car.

This is the best time to be out on the beach, before 9am in March.

There were a few birds out on the beach before I left. Royal terns looked small standing around that juvenile herring gull in the middle. Skimmers were staying close to the water.

The best place for sunrise in Tampa

On May 19, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights6 Comments

The Sunshine Skyway bridge was all lite up in purple before the sun came up. I was heading to Fort Desoto Park, my first time back since last June (more on my visit posted last week here).

I was at the park when it opened at 7am and headed straight to East Beach for sunrise. It was too early for spring migration and I wasn’t sure if I would see any shorebirds up at north beach since that part of the park had just opened up since the hurricanes so I didn’t rush.

I stopped at the bay fishing pier for more sunrise shots.

After my walk at north beach I stopped back by the bay pier to look for dolphins and realized the back half of the pier was closed due to damage from the hurricanes. They just rebuilt this pier last year. I think the pier was okay but a lot of the railings were missing or falling off.

The cormorants were enjoying having the end of the pier to themselves without fishermen in the way.

I missed driving down this street. It leads to the longer gulf pier.

The gulf pier was open and in good shape. It was pretty empty since it was cold and windy. There were only a few people fishing and I didn’t see any dolphins.

Watching the big boats go by.

A jellyfish on the sand.

I stopped at the East Beach turnaround before leaving and there were a few kiteboarders out in the wind. I’m sure that water was cold.

A quick video of them coming back into shore.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Looking for ducks before my walk

On March 26, 2025April 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

At the beginning of January I went out for a walk and stopped to look for ducks first. Not just any ducks but wintering ducks. Every winter the water reclamation facility pond in Tarpon Springs fills up with winter ducks. When I got out of the car I saw a robin under the tree and quickly snapped the above before walking over to the pond.

The top picture was about half the ducks. They were all redheads. Usually there’s a mix of redheads, lesser scaup and ring-necked ducks. In the past if you zoom in and look closely you can find a random rare duck but all I saw this morning were redheads. The males have the red heads and the females are all brown. They will leave by the end of February.

As I was watching the ducks a few more robins landed in front of me.

Zooming in on the redheads, many were taking early morning baths.

Since I was up at Tarpon Springs I did a quick walk on the causeway at Fred Howard Park. The tide was super low again and the sky was clear. It was 58 degrees. I wish it would stay this way through at least May but that won’t happen. Winters here are so short.

On my way home I stopped at Craig Park on the bayou. The boats for the Greek Epiphany celebration were already in the water, a few days before the event. I attended the Epiphany a few years earlier and you can read about the event and it’s meaning here.

A wildlife boat tour

On March 18, 2024April 30, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals, Vacation2 Comments

While Brett and I were on our staycation on Manasota Key we took a boat ride/dolphin tour one morning. The boat wasn’t full since it was a little chilly so it was nice to have room to move around. We went down the intercoastal and out to Stump Pass to get out in the open water.

We passed several boats that were still stranded from Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Idalia. Ian (in 2022) did a lot of damage in the area. They still hadn’t fully recovered and Idalia came by (in 2023).

We passed an adult and a juvenile bald eagle that were sitting on a spit in the middle of the water. Looks like Junior followed Dad down to see how to get a drink of water (or catch a fish?). A little farther down we passed the nest. One adult was sitting in the tree. Thinking this is Mom.

As we made our way out of Stump Pass we could see dolphins swimming around nearby and lots of pelicans diving for fish.

This one had a big fish in his pouch.

We saw so many dolphins. Some were swimming right up against the boat and I couldn’t fit them all in and some were far out. It was a fun morning just floating around watching them come up for air.

On our way back we saw a handful of white pelicans napping on a spit.

We went in a few channels and this was a common sight. Many of the docks were still waiting to be fixed. The cormorants were taking advantage of the dock pilings not being used. Eighteen months after Hurricane Ian hit there were still a lot of roofs still covered and a lot of construction going on. One of the restaurants we ate at on the water had just recently opened back up after being closed for over a year. The waitress said everything in the restaurant was brand new.

A postcard morning out

On February 5, 2024April 19, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights5 Comments

It was early November and too beautiful to be inside so I headed down to the waterfront just north of the St. Pete pier to see what I could find to take pictures of. Zooming in with my 400mm lens, I could see a ton of tiny white sailboats far out in the middle of the bay. There must have been a sailing class or competition. They looked like tiny sailboat dots on the horizon. There was a lot of boat traffic this morning.

The sun was already pretty high up.

Looking to the right you can see the pier building that houses a restaurant and bar and downtown St. Pete.

It was such a beautiful sky that I had to add a little sparkle to it.

Scenes from the sidewalk.

On the way home I stopped for a quick walk around Crescent Lake Park. From across the park I could see a girl with 2 parrots. It looks like she was doing some training with them but one kept hopping on her head. I hope she has trained him not to poop up there!

There’s always a lot of cormorants here.

A pretty muscovy duck sitting in the yellow flowers.

Lots of shorebirds

On January 13, 2024January 1, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

While I was at Fred Howard Park waiting for the flamingo to wake up from his nap I noticed a lot of shorebirds on the back side of the little beach. I saw several black bellied plovers and one was walking towards me with a snack.

There were a lot of black skimmers and many of them were still juveniles, born this past summer. They don’t have the full black head yet.

This juvenile royal tern was still screaming for Mom to bring him some food. This was a common sight on the beaches in the early fall.

The royal terns were taking a bath.

There were a lot of dowitchers. They were poking around in the muck and weeds.

A marbled godwit looking for food.

A “gulp” of cormorants swimming close to the shore.

A cormorant came up out of the water with a big fish and the laughing gulls were attacking him. The cormorant dropped the fish but I don’t think the gulls got it.

Ever once in a while the skimmers would flush and take flight.

It was a nice non-sunny morning out. This was actually a chilly morning for early October. I think it was in the high 50’s when I got out to the park.

Another look at the rookery

On July 29, 2023July 19, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

The wood storks were coming over to the bank to get a drink of water. In late April the water was really low.

This wood stork was collecting a stick. Were they still nesting at this point or maybe he was replenishing the one he has.

The babies are always hungry.

A snowy egret showing off.

There were several cattle egrets in full breeding colors. They were just starting to nest.

The little blue herons were also starting to nest.

The fully grown baby cormorants were still being fed by the parents. This one was reaching deep down to get that regurgitated fish.

A boat tailed grackle showing his blue and purple feathers.

Looking for dolphins

On December 27, 2021March 16, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

The weather was too nice during the week of Thanksgiving not to be outside all week. My sister and I booked a dolphin tour out of the Clearwater marina one morning. Even if we didn’t see any dolphins, it would be a fun trip out on the water.

We were not going out to far, staying in the intercoastal waterway area. The tide was super low so we had to stay right at the channel markers. I could see Sand Key beach far off to the right.

Right away we saw a dolphin! We were cruising along next to another tour boat and a dolphin was right behind them, chasing the waves. Of course we were facing right into the sun so it was hard to get good shots. I see a lot of dolphins down at Fort Desoto but rarely see them coming out of the water this much so this was fun.

Some of the birds we saw cruising around including two white pelicans flying high up.

We also saw several dolphins chasing fish into the sea walls. They were flapping the water hard to stun the fish. After all of the dolphin sightings we headed out to a small spit island to look for shells. More on that later.