A wildlife boat tour

Posted on March 18, 2024 by dinajohnston

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

Posted on February 5, 2024 by dinajohnston

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

Posted on January 13, 2024 by dinajohnston

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

Posted on July 29, 2023 by dinajohnston

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

Posted on December 27, 2021 by dinajohnston

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.

The moon was still up

Posted on November 22, 2021 by dinajohnston

There’s something magical about being at Circle B Bar Reserve when the sun is coming up. Besides it not being crowded or hot yet, the birds and critters are very active this early in the morning. It was my first time back since April and it felt good to be out on the trails. I usually don’t come during the summer because it is so hot and the main trails are closed due to alligators nesting on them.

Turning around, I could see the moon still up in the sky.

Of course I had to stop and take pictures of my favorite spot before heading down the trails. The last one is with my phone and you can see how big the marsh is on this trail.

The great blue heron was sitting right on the trail. I walked right under him and he didn’t move. I stopped and snapped the 2nd one with my phone so you can see how close he was.

After passing him I turned around to see if he had flown off. Nope, he’s still there watching the sun come up.

A few fly bys. A night heron and a pair of cormorants.

Some of the tiny birds, a common yellowthroat (who looks more like a masked bandit) and some blue gray gnatcatchers.

Hanging around the fishing pier

Posted on September 27, 2021 by dinajohnston

The views from both the bay and gulf piers. In the bottom picture, they are putting in a new utility tower that sits off the fishing pier. It’s weird to see the men tied off on top of that platform. I guess they didn’t want to risk a big splash in the water. It’s actually much higher up than it looks from the pier. They will eventually add the top part and the birds will be able to nest and hang out on it since the old one broke off years ago.

Color on the dunes.

Birds around the pier.

Several dolphins were coming up insanely close to the pier. They would pop right up along the pier as I was looking down so I could only fit in half of their bodies. There were at least 2 with one of them having a zig zag pattern near the blow hole.

Last visit to the bird rookery this year.

Posted on August 28, 2021 by dinajohnston

After leaving Lettuce Lake Park in north Tampa, I stopped by the bird rookery before heading home for one last look before it got too hot. It was fun seeing all of the juvenile wood storks almost grown up. It’s amazing how fast baby birds grow up. A few months later and they are as big as Mom. The young ones still have that pretty pale pink beak and a little fuzz on their heads.

Many of this spring’s early babies were already flying over to the side of the pond across from the mangrove island.

There were 3 snowy egret babies right in the front of the island. They were screaming for Mom who was close by.

High up in the tree a young cormorant was waiting for Mom to cough up the regurgitated fish.

On the way out of the neighborhood I saw a pair of sandhill cranes and stopped for a few minutes to get the above shots.

Road trip north of Tampa

Posted on December 14, 2020 by dinajohnston

I had a few days off in October and decided to road trip around the area. I wanted to visit some areas that I hadn’t been to before so I headed north with a start destination of Pine Island Beach. It’s a small beach about an hour north of Tampa and a little out of the way (more on that later). On the way back I took back roads and stopped in a small town called Aripeka. There’s an old historic post office and a really cool convenience store and that’s about it.

Aripeka sits on the water and it looks like there is a robust crab and fishing business.

Just past Aripeka is Anclote Key Park and the energy plant sits right next to the park. I stopped for a few minutes and walked around the park.

Traveling south I stopped at Fred Howard Park. It was quiet with the exception of a lot of cormorants and terns sleeping on the beach. It was nice to just be outside and going to some new places. I had not been to Fred Howard Park before. It’s a small beach in Tarpon Springs. I can image it quickly get crowded in the summer.