Going fishin!

On October 19, 2015October 20, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

Sandwich terns completely ignoring me.

“Hey guys look over here.”

Junior on the left is yelling at Mom to go get some fish.

Here is where you can find some bait fish. A net that hasn’t been completely emptied yet.

The laughing gulls were getting some fresh bait fish.

The water around the fishing pier was full of tiny fish.

Even the snowy egrets were getting snacks.

A sandwich tern coming up empty.

A pelican flies in to the jetty next to the pier.

“Lady, you’re not going to catch any big fish right there. And keep that fishing line away from the birds.”

Busy Saturday morning in early October at the fishing pier.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing

Growing up at the fishing pier.

On August 6, 2015July 27, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

The majestic osprey. This was a juvenile, born months earlier near the fishing pier. There were two nests near the fishing pier this spring. Both the smokestack tower couple and the light post in the parking lot couple had babies so I’m not sure which family this one came from. He already had a half eaten fish when I first saw him. The orange eyes and white specks on his feathers shows that he’s still a baby.

Flying around, he seemed unsteady when landing.

He made several passes later, trying to catch a fish with no luck.

He chased off a laughing gull. Giving his best eagle imitation.

Not so majestic when the whole world is a toilet.

It’s great to see the baby osprey growing up around the fishing pier at Fort Desoto.

Skywatch Friday

The first time I’ve seen a juvenile reddish egret.

On August 5, 2015July 27, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I was cruising the fishing pier at Fort Desoto and found my first juvenile reddish egret hanging around on the light post. You can usually find adult ones in the north beach area on the beach but this was the first time I’ve seen one on the fishing pier. It also happened to be a young one, probably born early this spring. He was on the light post and then moved to the roof of the shed on the pier. Then back to the light for a few minutes before he was chased off by a young osprey. He’s going to be really pretty when he’s all grown up and has his bright grown up feathers.

Clouds on the beach – Skywatch Friday

On November 6, 2014October 31, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights14 Comments

A perfect morning at Fort Desoto Park.

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The dolphin show at Fort Desoto

On June 29, 2013June 29, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography10 Comments

The dolphins were active, coming close to the pier. They were stealing the fish from the fishing lines. People were not happy that the dolphins were stealing the fish off their lines. You’d see a guy realizing he had something on his line. He’d start to reel it in and then you’d see the dolphin coming up behind it. When the guy reeled in his line the fish and bait fish were gone. I wonder if the dolphins swallow the hooks. Does it bother them? They eat whole fish with bones and all so I guess it’s okay as long as they don’t get it stuck in their mouth. People on the pier get mad at the dolphins but hey, they are the ones stealing the dolphin’s food.

Dolphin on the bottom right flipping his tail as the boat goes by. The gulls were going after any trailing bait fish that was left behind when they pulled up their nets onto the boat.

Everybody wants to hitch a ride in a boat, including snowy egrets. They were probably hoping the guys would turn their back on the bait fish they just pulled up in their boat.

‘Hey, get your own boat!” says the snowy egret on the motor.

Another beautiful Saturday morning at Fort Desoto.

Camera Critters

Injured birds around the fishing pier – Skywatch Friday

On February 21, 2013February 21, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography18 Comments

Hubby and I stopped by the Sunshine Skyway fishing pier to look for the rare kittiwake that had been sighted there earlier that week. We looked, along with several other birders, for over an hour with no luck. I did get a lot of “birds in flight” practice that morning.

I realized after I cropped this up that the royal tern had a hook in his beak. This was a common sight around the pier.

I saw another royal tern on the other side of the pier with a hook pulling on his skin. He was trying to swallow a big fish. He got the fish down but not without doing more damage to the beak area. I’m not sure how someone would be able to catch this one. He was flying pretty good and stayed on the other side of the pier that you can’t get to.

Another royal tern with a fish.

He flew right over my head. No hooks here.

This common loon has a hook in it’s beak.

This loon was showing off. This has been a banner winter for loons in the Tampa bay area. We only get them in the winter here around Tampa and last winter I only saw 2.

Back down for another fish.

Ruddy turnstone posing on an oyster bed.

A view of the Sunshine Skyway bridge from the rest stop. The bridge takes you from St. Petersburg over the bay to Sarasota and south Florida. This new bridge opened in 1985 after a freighter crashed into the old one doing enough damage to close it down back in 1980. Part of the old bridge is still used as a fishing pier.

The couple of times that I’ve been out on the fishing pier, it has been packed with people fishing. The birds, including gulls, terns and pelicans, hang out here to fish as well. They also like to steal the bait fish from the fisherman. The biggest problem is that the birds will go after a fish that is already on a hook and the birds get hooked too. There are educational boards all over the fishing pier with instructions on how to reel in a hooked bird and take the hook out. It is clear to never cut the line. The bird will die with a hook and fishing line trailing behind it. After spending time on the pier, you will get the impression that most people don’t care and will just cut the line. I say most because there are a few people out there with a soul and will help release the bird the right way. With the amount of birds flying around with hooks, most just cut the line. The local bird rescue and rehab company has been having financial problems and has stopped taking in injured birds. A new group of volunteers are working on starting up a new rescue group. With all of the birders out on this pier recently looking for the kittiwake, there’s been a growing concern on how to help out at the pier.

There’s so much more to this story. I’ll save that for a later date. I still stand behind my thought “No fishing should be allowed on fishing piers.” Like that would ever happen in Florida.

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Blue skies at the pier – Skywatch Friday

On January 24, 2013January 23, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography16 Comments

Brown pelicans can always be found around fishing piers.

Common loons are a little more rare here in central Florida. Although, this is the 3rd one I’ve seen this winter.

He was preening around the city pier in Anna Maria Island when I went looking for the rare razorbills.

By the time I saw him with a fish, he was pretty far away from the pier. Extremely cropped.

It was weird seeing downtown St. Petersburg across the bay. It’s almost an hour drive from where I standing to get back to St. Pete.

Snowy egrets were hitching a ride.

Rod and Reel fishing pier. There’s a restaurant on that top floor. There was a long wait the morning I was there. I did not eat there that morning but would like to go back with Hubby and hang out and get some breakfast.

The first few days after Christmas were beautiful which was nice coming home from rainy Atlanta. It was a bit chilly. Everyone had on jackets. But, the sun was out and it was going to warm up that afternoon. I went down there looking for the rare razerbills and found a few other fun things too. Pelicans were everywhere and it was a nice surprise seeing the loon feeding even though he kept drifting farther away. The tourists were out in full force, walking around and riding bikes. I’m sure they were glad to be out of the blizzards going on up north at the time.

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Safety Harbor fishing pier – Skywatch Friday

On February 23, 2012February 21, 2012 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography12 Comments

Hardly anyone on the pier. It was such a beautiful day. Where was everyone?

The day started out cloudy. But then the sun started peeking out.

Surprise! A rare horned grebe floats up to the pier.

The manatees are back early this year. They usually don't show up at this pier until late March. In the summer, you can always see manatees around the pier.

: Hey lady, gimmi a kiss!

Safety Harbor, a small little part of the Tampa bay area, is one of my favorite pit stops. Actually, the fishing pier is. The town sits on the water in the upper Tampa bay, north of all 3 bridges (Gandy, Howard Franklin and Courtney Campbell) that cross the bay from Pinellas County to Hillsborough County. Unless there is an event going on at the little marina, I can always find a good parking spot and it’s free. Most of the time there are pelicans and shorebirds flying around or digging around in the sand. In the warm months you can always see manatees swimming around the pier. When the time changes and it’s light outside after work, I sometimes stop by for a quick walk along the pier just to de-stress. Usually just to take a deep breath before heading to do battle at the grocery store. On a recent Saturday morning I stopped there on the way home from checking on the baby owls. It turned out to be a perfect morning.

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