A 4 stop road trip morning

Posted on June 15, 2023 by dinajohnston

It was an early morning in April and I was looking for a new bird. A great-tailed grackle had been spotting in St. Pete somewhere in the North Shore Park area.

I found this guy but it was a boat-tailed grackle. The only real difference between the two are the color of the eyes. The boat-tailed has black eyes and the great-tailed has yellow eyes. Their call is also different.

There he was, right in the parking lot near the pool. Those bright yellow eyes gave him away. He was right in the area where people had been spotting him. I haven’t heard of one being in the Tampa Bay area before. They are found on the western part of the country so he was far off course.

Meanwhile, this Cooper’s hawk was there as well, looking at me like I was crazy.

I noticed the trees were blooming.

I’m not sure if squirrels can eat these big balls hanging from the palm tree but this one seem to be hiding in them.

I made a quick stop at nearby Crescent Lake Park to see if the white pelicans were still hanging around the lake. I only saw 2 of them on this visit. I don’t know if the other ones were somewhere else in the park or if they had already headed north for the summer.

Another quick stop on the way home and I found some black-necked stilts and yellowlegs. They were all hanging out along the ditches near the waste plant. It was still a little early for stilt babies.

My final stop of the morning (but really only a quick drive through) was of the peacock neighborhood. There’s a neighborhood in Clearwater that has tons of wild peacocks roaming the yards. I had recently heard there was an all white one there so I drove through looking for it. I found it but more on that later.

Three stops before my appointment.

Posted on March 20, 2023 by dinajohnston

I was heading down to St. Pete and stopped by Crescent Lake Park to see if there were any white pelicans still hanging around. They usually spend a few weeks here in the winter but it’s hit or miss whether they are here or floating in the nearby bay. When I first got out of the car I noticed a few scattered around the lake.

Then I noticed more hanging out in the shade under the big banyan tree. They were all busy preening so they must have just finished a morning swim.

I heard something over my head and looked up and saw this starling sitting in a hole. He might have been checking out the hole for future nesting spots.

This ring billed gull was swimming in the shade near the white pelicans. His red accents really popped in the shade.

After snapping the white pelicans I headed down toward North Shore Park and saw this big tree blooming so I had to pull over and take a shot. This was in mid-February and I had missed it’s full peak but it was still pretty.

All was quiet on the little beach on the bay.

One more stop just south of the St. Pete pier before heading to my chiropractor who’s office is nearby. It was a beautiful cool morning out and was worth leaving an hour early.

Looking for a breeze

Posted on November 3, 2022 by dinajohnston

It was a perfect day to head down to St. Pete for a walk and hopefully catch a breeze in mid-August. My first stop was Crescent Lake Park. I was hoping to see hummingbirds at the big firebush but all I got was bees.

I happen to look over near the playground and saw this squirrel trying really hard to get in the unattended bag. A lady saw what was happening and ran over. She had donuts in her bag. I don’t blame the squirrel for trying to get those.

I stumbled on an outdoor dog obedience training class. Since I had my longer lens I was able to watch from pretty far away. All of the dogs seemed pretty chilled.

I left the park and headed over to the yacht basin near downtown for a quick walk before it got crazy hot.

Downtown St. Pete parks

Posted on July 28, 2022 by dinajohnston

You can always find turtles chilling on the trash bumpers at Crescent Lake Park near downtown St. Pete.

I found some cute duckies walking along the sidewalk.

Usual birds around the lake include the loggerhead shrike, a roseate spoonbill and an anhinga drying out.

I found an unusual pair of birds sitting in front of my car, northern rough winged swallows. I’ve seen them in other parks before but they are fairly rare.

A cloudy morning at the park.

The big banyan tree has been fenced in for several years now. They are trying to keep it alive since it’s so old (not sure how old though). It’s taken a beating over the years with people climbing and playing on it.

It looked like it has snowed along the street in front of the park. I realized there were several cottonwood trees in someone’s yard. I had never noticed this before so I must not have been here when they were blooming. I’m sure it’s beautiful when it’s in full bloom but what a mess it was in the street and yard.

After leaving the park I stopped by Rouse park on the bay in St Pete, only a few minutes away. The royal poinciana trees were blooming and the are a lot of them in this small park.

Enjoying an early morning on the bay in late May.

Low tide in late December

Posted on February 10, 2022 by dinajohnston

I headed down to Fort Desoto Park in late December hoping to see the huge flocks of white pelicans. No luck on North beach but I found a small flock of them way out sitting on a spoil island. The first shot is zoomed in and cropped up. Later I was walking on the beach and a lone one flew over my head.

I saw the above kingfisher flying around out in the North Beach marsh, diving for fish.

A few dunlins were feeding in the shallow end.

I love this time of year when it’s sunny and cool and the tide is really low. You can walk out forever before you get to ankle deep water.

Watching the ships go by from the fishing pier.

I stopped by Crescent Lake Park on the way home to look for otters and found a pair of white pelicans instead.

A few other birds at the lake were a wood stork and a lesser scaup with a snack in his beak. I think he had a crawfish.

White pelicans in St. Pete

Posted on February 5, 2022 by dinajohnston

I wasn’t surprised to see white pelicans at North Shore Park in St. Pete in late December. They usually spend the winter somewhere around the park although it’s hit or miss to catch them right in front of the beach. They cruise around the area and sometimes hang out far into the channels in the neighborhoods nearby. I had stopped by for a quick walk and ended up going back to my car and getting my camera. They were standing right there in pelican leg high water.

Turning around to leave, I could see an osprey sitting up on the lights.

Sometimes you just have to stop and watch the boats go by.

There were lots of little shorebirds along the beach. I then decided to stop by nearby Crescent Lake Park on the way home.

Right in the middle of the lake at the park were 3 lone pelicans. I have seen them here before as well but they were all swimming separately. I wonder if they originally came with the beach group and somehow got separated.

I spent some time trying to catch this osprey diving for fish but he was just too far across the lake and he kept missing.

North Shore Park

Posted on August 31, 2021 by dinajohnston

The tiny beach at North Shore Park, near downtown St. Petersburg was not as welcoming as these pictures look. They had just raked the beach of the dead fish from red tide but the fish were still floating up on the beach. At least the smell wasn’t bad and it was such a beautiful Saturday morning. The storms were coming in a little early since this was right before lunch.

The resident hybrid great egret/great blue heron was lurking around, trying to find a live fish to eat. Most of the birds don’t eat the dead fish but a few do and they get sick. The bird rescues are all full of sick fish from the red tide.

I stopped at Crescent Lake Park on the way home for a quick walk to look for otters. No luck on the otters but I did see the above in the vegetation in the lake. A juvenile little blue heron, a great blue heron, a blue jay, a snowy egret and a green heron.

Baby boom at the lake

Posted on October 24, 2020 by dinajohnston

On my walk around Crescent Lake park in mid-August, I saw the above muscovy duck with babies. One was all yellow. It’s not uncommon for them to have all yellow ducks but usually as they grow up they start to get a lot of brown feathers in. This one was old enough to have brown feathers. He was really pretty.

The babies were resting in the grass.

Later on the other side of the lake I saw a family all sleeping huddled together under a tree. They were close to the sidewalk but the foot traffic was not disturbing them.

Another section of the lake had babies trying to cross the road. It was funny to watch them jump off the curb one by one. That seemed like such a big jump to them.

Of course they got right in the middle of the street and the babies plopped down on the road. Someone walked over and shooed them to the sidewalk since cars tend to go fast around this curve.

They all made it over to the sidewalk. Even in late summer, it’s a baby boom at the lake.

A beautiful morning out

Posted on October 19, 2020 by dinajohnston

Bees and berries at Crescent Lake Park.

I found the otter again but this time he was very elusive. I got a quick peek and then he disappeared for good.

This gull should have been over at the beach. Somehow he managed to snag a small fish at the lake.

I was standing under some trees looking for the otter and heard some noise over my head. I looked up and found two juvenile anhingas looking down at me. They must be late babies. There was a tiny nest that they had outgrown but they were still too young to fly yet. Mom was sitting high up in the next tree.

After leaving Crescent Lake Park, I made the quick drive over to North Shore beach near downtown St. Pete. Someone had recently painted the small concrete pier.

Another beautiful day at the bay.

P.S. Happy Birthday to my sister Debbie!

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Crescent Lake Park

Posted on September 21, 2020 by dinajohnston

The usual birds at Crescent Lake Park in downtown St. Pete.

Monk parakeet hiding in a tree.

There’s a tree across the lake in someone’s yard that was full of these blooms. Now I wished I had taken a picture with my phone of the entire tree. It was beautiful.

My favorite water tower.

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