AE and Archie have triplets!

On August 24, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I was out at Fort Desoto Park with a few other photographers early on a Monday morning looking for oystercatcher babies. We didn’t find them in the roped off lagoon area where they had been seen for a few days before. As we got farther to the north tip of the beach we saw an adult fly onto the beach in an area with reeds growing.

We stood there for a few minutes looking into the grassy area and saw them. Triplets! They were buzzing around the area quickly and it was hard keeping up with them. We were all standing quietly across the beach so these are all super cropped up. They aren’t quite as sharp as I would have liked and I was wishing that I had lugged my heavy 500mm lens up there but I wasn’t sure how far we would have to walk so I had brought my lighter 100mm – 400mm lens instead.

The parents were busy bringing in food for them. Three mouths is a lot to feed. The tiniest one finally got a bite and would not let them get it from him.

A little sibling rivalry going on.

AE (named after her red bands on her legs) is the Mom. She was banded as a chick in Georgia and showed up here in the area in 2017 and has stayed since then. Her mate has been named Archie by the local photogs. They have had chicks for the last 2 years. In July of 2022 I didn’t get down to see them until the babies were much older. You can see that post here. They had 3 more babies last spring but I did not make it down there to see them so this year I was able to get them early.

Archie was bringing in more food. Archie spent most of the morning flying in with food while Mom watched the little ones. They eventually plopped down in the tall grass to nap so I headed back down the beach. Because this is a busy area of the beach, this little grassy area was roped off later that day. They stayed here for a few days before heading back to the lagoon.

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.

Tons of real snowbirds

On February 15, 2024February 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography9 Comments

On my last trip to Fort Desoto to look for the white pelicans there were only a handful out on Outback Key. This morning, a few weeks later, I got lucky. There were a few other people milling around the parking lot preparing for the hike to the northern tip but I just got out of my car and took off. I got out on the beach and took a shot and could see a lot of the white pelicans far out in the lagoon. I was not wasting time and started walking.

I took the above with my phone. The sun was already up and I could see tons of the pelicans in the shallow water.

Some were standing in a little water (it was low tide) and some were farther away on a spit. They were all busy preening and I could see white feathers everywhere.

That pesky juvenile reddish egret had to get in on the action. He looks so tiny compared to the bigger pelicans.

About 15 minutes later more white pelicans started fly in.

They just kept coming, flying from behind a spoil island where they probably spent the night. They were piling up together. There were 2 groups of them each on a low tide sandbar. I could see St. Pete beach far off in the distance.

As I was walking up to the farther sandbar the pelicans on the closer one started to float over to the farther sand bar to join their friends. One by one they started floating in a long line across the lagoon.

They just kept piling onto the exposed sandbar, scrunching together to make room for more friends.

They were still flying in from behind the spoil island as well.

It looked like there wasn’t an inch of space left on this spit but they kept coming.

They were still floating from one spit to the other.

They were all crammed together.

And yet there was still more to come.

At this point we were all standing in knee deep water watching the remaining few from the closer spit (that was now covered in water as the tide came in). I think this was a record of white pelicans, at least that I’ve seen. They winter here and move around the area so it’s hit or miss as to whether you can catch this many together at one time.

Sun coming up on Outback Key.

On February 12, 2024April 19, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I was out at Fort Desoto looking for the white pelicans early one morning. The sun was just coming up over the trees and I had walked about 15 minutes out on Outback Key. For once I was the first one out on the north spit.

I could see a blast off of shorebirds far out where the pelicans were hanging out.

Dunlins and dowitchers were napping all huddled together.

The skimmers were taking off from a far away spit and landing right in front of me.

It’s hard not to stop and take a few pictures of the juvenile reddish egret when he’s dancing right in front of me. He was showing off, trying to take everyone’s attention away from the white pelicans.

Later as I was heading back to the beach area I found this red breasted merganser swimming in a shallow area on the inside of Outback Key. These ducks dive for their food but this lady was skimming along the surface looking for stuff to eat.

A snowy egret walked up and wanted to have some of whatever the merganser was eating.

The merganser was trying to chase the egret away but the egret wasn’t leaving.

Finally the merganser snapped at the egret and the egret moved farther away.

Meanwhile in the same area this tricolored heron was popping back bait fish like they were popcorn shrimp.

This was one of those perfect mornings out. The sun was out, the weather was cool and the white pelicans made an appearance in full force. More to come on them.

Sunrise and beach birds

On October 17, 2022October 14, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I found the whimbril on another trip to Fort Desoto Park in late August. He was right when you walk out on the beach so he wasn’t hard to find.

An oystercatcher was taking a bath.
A snowy egret with a fish for breakfast.

A ring bill gull was posing for me.

I found another whimbrel far up on Outback Key.

The sun was just coming up over the trees when I headed out for a long walk on the beach.

I’ve slowed down a little on my blog posts for a while. I had shoulder surgery on the 6th and can’t pick up anything heavier than a pound for 6-7 weeks so I won’t be out with my camera for a while. I’ll probably be caught up with previous outings by the end of October. I still plan to get in my walks with my phone starting later this week though. I do have my camera set up on a tripod in front of the back window hoping to catch some migrating birds coming through our backyard so I don’t miss out on fall migration completely this fall.

Out on the beach

On July 12, 2022July 4, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Out on the beach at Fort Desoto Park in early May, I found a few black bellied plovers.

I don’t see dunlins very often and it was great to see them in their breeding colors.

The stars on the beach this morning were red knots. Most were in their breeding feathers as well. These birds only fly in for a short time to rest up and fuel up before heading north for the summer. They are one of the longest migration birds, flying 9,000 miles each way when migrating. They spend the summers breeding in the Canadian artic and the winters far south in South America. We are fortunate to see them stopping over here in between. I feel like I see less and less of them every year.

There were a few juveniles mixed in but most were in their red colors.

Looking into the sun, the bird on the left looks like he has a snack.

It was a beautiful morning to be out on the beach.

A holiday weekend at the beach.

On August 1, 2019August 2, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights1 Comment

We always say that we stay away from the beaches on a major holiday weekend. We broke our own rule on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. We decided to go spend a few hours in the morning at Fort Desoto Park and then swing by to visit Brett’s aunt since her nursing home is close by. We were there before 9am and left before lunch. The crowds were thick before we left.

Sea hares in the water and on the beach.

A manatee cruising by the fishing pier.

On the fishing pier, I caught this dragonfly resting on a fishing pole. This poor shrimp was bait.

Ships passing by the pier and snowy egrets hanging out on the shelter.

We took the scenic route over to St. Pete beach before heading to visit his aunt.

SkyWatch Friday

Take an Iphone tour of Fort Desoto

On September 3, 2015August 27, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights5 Comments

A view of the gulf fishing pier from behind the snack shop.

A big boat coming around the corner near the fishing pier. This is the main channel where all of the boats come in heading to the port of Tampa.

A great blue heron watching the Sunshine Skyway Bridge as a storm moves in.

Turtle nests were roped off all over the park.

Looking out at the north beach marsh.

Pano of the northern tip of the beach.

A storm was moving in across the north beach.

Standing on the bay pier, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge is partially hidden by the storm.

It was nice being at Fort Desoto park before the storm came. The threat of rain had kept most people away. There were a few people out fishing on the pier but the beach was almost empty. Not many birds either. So I walked around the pier for a while and enjoyed the quiet.

Skywatch Friday