Here comes the sun

On January 21, 2026January 21, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

Back in mid-October I was out early, heading to Fort Desoto Park to hopefully see some winter birds. This was my first trip back since May. As I drove into the park (it opens at 7am) I paused on the bridge since no one was behind me to snap the above with my phone. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge was still lit up.

By the time I made it to East Beach and hiked out on the beach the sunlight was starting to show and I could barely see the lights on the bridge.

The low clouds along the bridge kept the sun from popping out early but casted some cool rays along the sky. I didn’t want to wait for the sun to come up past the clouds so I headed to North beach after this shot.

Out on North beach the sky had a pink and orange tint before the sun came up over the beach.

The sun was coming up over the trees as I walked far up Outback Key.

At the tip of Outback Key. It was a long walk back to the parking area.

I didn’t see any winter birds except for a few white pelicans (more on those later). All of the usual birds were there including a few reddish egrets that always show off when they are dancing for their food.

I always stop by the long gulf fishing pier before leaving and the area was busy with big ship traffic.

A few dolphins along the pier.

Some hot summer walks

On December 27, 2025January 3, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I started my early walk in September at Philippe Park. I was still climbing the stairs to the Indian Mound, trying to get in shape for my trip to Italy. The flaming torch bromeliads were blooming along the stairs.

I have been seeing this crab trapper out in the upper Tampa bay for at least 10 years. He must have just started out this morning because when he starts pulling up the crab traps and dumping them in his storage bin the pelicans start to follow him.

I stopped by the Oldsmar pier before heading home and it was high tide. My timing was perfect because a dolphin came right up to the pier as I walked out. He circled around the area for a short time and then headed out to the deeper area of the bay.

The next morning I walked at the Dunedin causeway and stopped to enjoy the sunrise before it got too hot.

I could see a blue crab along the sea wall. He better watch out for those traps because this is what the crab trapper pulls up during the crab season.

A laughing gull takes a break in front of my car.

A morning out on the beach

On August 4, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

Another sunrise at Fort Desoto Park in late April.

As I was leaving the East Beach area after taking a few sunrise pictures I passed two osprey. Both had big fish for breakfast.

A great crested flycatcher was sitting up high watching the sun come up.

When I got out to North Beach I saw a reddish egret right away. He was busy fishing for his breakfast in a tidal pool.

I found another one farther up the beach but this one was right into the sun.

A young black bellied plover stands in front of the sleeping red knots.

Red knots are migrating birds and only stop over for a short time to refuel on their way back and forth between their breeding grounds in the northern most part of the continent to the far tip of South America. This trip I was able to catch many of them in their reddish orange breeding colors.

A red knot surrounded by 3 black bellied plovers, two were just starting to get their black bellies for the summer breeding season.

A cute little dunlin was poking around in the wet sand for a snack.

A young herring gull, strutting on the beach with those pink legs, was going to find out that the piece of seaweed was not a good snack.

A big boat passing by the pier.

A crown conch in the shallow edge of the water at low tide.

The dolphins were swimming around the fishing pier trying to steal fish from the fishermen.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

A new duck and the usual

On July 20, 2024July 12, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

It was early May and I was heading back to Fort Desoto Park. The sun was just coming up as I crossed the Bayside Bridge before heading into downtown St. Pete.

Right before the park there is a big pond that sits on the road with houses on the back side. Frigatebirds spend summers here and sleep on the big mangrove islands behind these houses. You can’t see where they sleep from the road. You would need a kayak and be out on the water before daylight to see them leaving their roost. But, if you catch the timing right you can see them flying over the big pond early in the morning getting a drink of water before cruising around for the day. It’s rare to see them upclose so I pulled over and got out the car and spend a few minutes watching them swoop down to the pond. They didn’t stay long and headed out over the bay.

As I watched them soaring I realized the moon was still up.

There wasn’t a lot of migrating birds on the trail so I went to the fishing pier to see if there was anything interesting. I was just expecting a few dolphins but I got a lifer instead. There was a surf scoter spotted a few months back in south St. Pete along the bay but you needed a scope to see it and it was not there all of the time so I didn’t even try to find it. There was one spotted in Safety Harbor a few years back but I couldn’t find it after several trips. On this morning there was a female one floating right along the pier. It wasn’t hanging around but was swimming by and I was able to snap some shots of it as it made it’s way past the pier and around the island.

A ruddy turnstone was starting to get his pretty breeding feathers in.

There were a few dolphins around the pier as usual.

Someone had caught a tiny shark.

A winter drizzle walk

On May 30, 2024May 24, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Tampa bay sights6 Comments

It was partly cloudy when I drove over to nearby Safety Harbor for an early morning Saturday walk in mid-March.

I could see a dolphin far out in the water as the clouds moved in.

I first walked the long pier and then walked over to the boardwalk through the mangroves. The tide was low and the birds were scarce.

By the time I got back to the pier it was barely drizzling. I didn’t mind since it was mild and the drizzle made if feel a little like winter. It was March after all.

There were two manatees hanging out along the pier.

A quick video of one coming up for air.

Before heading home I walked down Main Street. The sidewalk chalk festival was happening later that afternoon and they had the street blocked off to traffic. It was fun walking down the middle of the street, not having to worry about cars. People were just getting set up to start doing the artwork and there were a few booths selling things.

Face to face with a dolphin

On May 9, 2024April 30, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Tampa bay sights, zoo animals8 Comments

Look at that face! It’s not often you get this close up to a dolphin. After our dolphin boat tour my sister and I stopped at the nearby Clearwater Marine Aquarium, home of Winter the dolphin who lost his tail (The movie Dolphin Tale was about him and filmed here). They rescue, rehabilitate and house (if needed) permanently injured dolphins, turtles, otters and other sea critters.

This huge turtle had lost his back legs.

This turtle was hit by a boat and lost his ability to submerge properly. He swims around with his butt in the air.

Some of the turtles that are rehabilitating and will be released soon.

A few of the smaller swimmers.

The ladies on the right got to feed the shark that was in the middle. He was obviously a docile shark since he’s fed several times a day.

This is Nicholas and he came right up to the window. He was found as a young baby stranded on Christmas Eve in 2002 and had 3rd degree sunburns on his back. You can still see the scars on his forehead all the way to his fin.

Debbie was sitting in front of the window and both dolphins came to check her out.

A very short video of a dolphin swimming in the big tank.

Before leaving we walked around on the upper deck where you can see Clearwater to the left and Clearwater Beach to the right.

Everyday life at the marina

On February 9, 2023January 30, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I was back at the Dunedin marina in late December for a quick walk (can you tell this is one of my favorite places to walk?). That damaged abandoned boat is still stuck to the channel marker. You can see where it’s cut into the boat. It’s a great place for birds to rest and I caught a green heron sitting on it the morning I was there.

A great egret was fishing through the little hole around the floating piling. I kept seeing him sticking his head down thinking he couldn’t catch even a tiny fish that way but he sure did.

A little blue heron was creeping around the dock, also looking for fish.

There’s always a lot of pelicans around the marina.

I caught this grackle eating some kind of seeds.

I saw this osprey flying across the marina with some sticks and moss in his talons. It’s the start of nesting season for osprey so I thought he was heading to one of the 2 nests in the marina parking lot. He flew around with it for a while. Then it looks like he’s going to land on a light pole that didn’t already have a nest and I’m thinking “What is he doing?”. He did land but then took off across the marina and headed to the nest on a pole at the other end of the marina.

There’s a nest high up in a tree near the boat ramp and another nest across from it on top of a pole. There’s always a lot of osprey flying around so they guard them pretty well during nesting season.

Far out in the water I could see a dolphin coming up every few minutes. I was bummed he didn’t come close to the pier.

A warm morning out in December.

On January 9, 2023January 10, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals5 Comments

Folly Farms in Safety Harbor was all decorated for Christmas with lights everywhere. I was there early in the morning and many of the lights were still on. It was weird looking for birds and butterflies with a tshirt on and Christmas lights everywhere. The farm has a community garden and someone had sunflowers blooming in their square, in the middle of December! I could only find a few butterflies in the butterfly garden even though it was still blooming.

The only bird I found at the farm was a hermit thrush. I had not seen one since 2018 and I had just seen one in my backyard before finding this one at the farm. I had to wonder if it was the same one from my yard even though I was 15 minutes away.

I stopped by the Safety Harbor fishing pier before heading home and found some black capped (or nanday) parakeets in the parking lot. They were eating seeds from the top of the trees. They blend in well in the trees and I might not have seen them if they hadn’t been screaming.

A manatee was close to the pier but the dolphins were pretty far out in the bay.

Watching the ibis feed off tiny crabs in the water.

Pelicans were cruising by the pier.

There were several osprey out diving for fish in the bay but only one came close enough to try and get shots. He swooped down and grabbed that fish so fast and then went the other way. I was hoping he would fly towards me. Oh well. I’ll try again.

Hurricane Ian

On September 28, 2022September 28, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography10 Comments

It’s Tuesday morning and Hurricane Ian is on it’s way to pay us a visit. This morning the track is showing a direct hit with a category 3. Our house is just under 20 minutes from the water so we were not too worried about storm surge but we were worried about flooding from a lot of rain and wind damage. Everything is ready to go and now we wait until Thursday morning when it’s due to hit. I decided to get out of the house for a walk to calm my nerves. It was already dark and dreary at the Dunedin marina but it had cooled off. The big boats were still there but most of the little boats that can go on a trailer were gone.

People live on both of these sailboats and their dingys were still there. I hope they get into town by Wednesday morning.

These little boats were still there but I’m sure someone was coming to haul them away or tie them down.

The water was super calm and I could several dolphins swimming out in the water.

I was able to catch this quick video of a dolphin feeding along the rocks right in front of me. I don’t usually see them this close to the marina.

Update – it’s now after lunch on Wednesday and Ian is hitting near the Fort Myers area, much farther south of us. We are still due to get heavy rain and flooding later tonight as the other side of the Hurricane skirts past us. We are saying prayers for those south of us. They will need a lot of help in the coming days.

Scenes from Fort Desoto

On July 18, 2022July 7, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals4 Comments

The dolphin show at Fort Desoto Park in mid-May. The water was clear so you could see them before they were coming up for air and they were swimming close to the fishing pier.

I found this calico crab on the beach early that morning. It was low tide but the water was starting to come up. At first I though maybe he was dead but then I saw bubbles coming out of his face. I was going to nudge him close to the deeper water but he stood up and started heading that way on his own. It looks like he has a critter in a shell living on top of him.

A juvenile little blue heron dunking for fish.

Scenes from the fishing pier.

I walked up to the top of the fort hoping to find some migrating birds up at the top but all I found was a cardinal on a dead snag. He had a great view.