The dolphin show at Fort Desoto Park

On September 29, 2025October 15, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals4 Comments

Rush hour traffic heading in and out of Tampa Bay. I was out on the beach at Fort Desoto Park at the end of May and the boats come pretty close as they go by.

After looking for birds I always stop by the pier looking for anything interesting to see. Sometimes I see rare ducks floating around or different birds flying by and if not then there’s always dolphins to watch.

A snowy egret was eating someone’s bait fish.

It’s not often I don’t see a dolphin or two swimming around the pier although sometimes they are too far out to get a decent shot. This morning there were several swimming close to the pier.

Two kept swimming under the pier and it looked like a Mom and her almost grown baby that was sticking close to her.

I took so many videos with my phone. These are my 3 favorite ones. They were so close and kept swimming through the bait fish that swims under the dock. It was such an amazing thing to see them this close and out in the wild. It never gets old.

More boats from the pier. They pass through between the park and the small island of Egmont Key.

Beautiful morning on the pier

On March 2, 2024February 18, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

After taking a zillion pictures of the white pelicans I headed over to the fishing pier before going home. You never know what you might find in that area, The egrets were hanging out on the roof of the shelters, always waiting for a bait fish to be dropped or ignored.

Some of the snowy egrets were doing the work to get their own meals. Heading down to the water and grabbing it themselves since the water was full of them this morning.

It was a little windy up there.

If the snowy egret brought his catch back to the shelter roof he was going to have to fight off the other egrets.

A cormorant scratching his head.

The frigatebirds were cruising low over the pier.

Not a lot of boat traffic out this morning.

A pacific in the gulf?

On March 9, 2023March 10, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I had high hopes as I drove into Fort Desoto Park in early February. I was looking for the rare Pacific Loon that had been seen there the day before. It was seen right off the fishing pier so I figured it’s a short walk on the pier and I wouldn’t have to hike in the woods looking for it. Although I also knew it could be a wild goose chase and was I loony for driving down here to look for it?

When I first got to the pier there were a lot of people that had already spotted it (several had scopes). Way out in the bay. There were 3 little dots floating around. Two were common loons and the third was the Pacific. I shot the above quickly thinking that might be the only one I got if they took off.

After a while he floated closer to the pier. We get common loons here in the winter so most people, including me, would not have given it a 2nd look since they both almost look the same in their non-breeding feathers. The Pacific has a faint chin strap on his neck that makes him different than the loon as well as a thinner bill. I have to say the local expert birders really know their details.

This is a map of where you can find Pacific loons so the big question is “What is he doing in Florida?”.

He quickly made his way closer to the pier so I was able to get a better look at him. In the first shot you can just barely see the chin strap. This was a first for me as well as most of the people that had driven from all over Florida to see it.

A few of the usual birds include a snowy egret and a great blue heron. I took the shot of the great blue heron with my phone. I was standing next to a guy fishing for bait fish and that heron was not giving up his spot to catch any fall out.

A tiny black bellied plover on the jetty.

Looking out on the bay at the tower, the cormorants and pelicans were having a nice quiet morning.

Some big “boats” passing by the pier.

In the parking lot I found a pair of osprey working on their nest. This one was decorated with some nice greenery.

I stopped at the East Beach turnaround before leaving.

Saturday morning at Fort Desoto

On June 3, 2021June 3, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

The red breasted mergansers were still swimming around the pier in early April at Fort Desoto Park.

I found the whimbrels again. This time they were hunting for food around the stone edges near the fort. The tide was low and they were picking off some type of black bug.

A great blue heron standing on the roof at the end of the fishing pier.

This ruddy turnstone had a bite and I realized he was also missing a foot.

A ruddy and a laughing gull feeding on the beach under the pier.

Watching the ibis fly by on a perfect Saturday morning.

A quiet slow morning in September

On November 3, 2020March 2, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

Back in mid-September when things were quiet at Fort Desoto, I stopped by the pier to see if there were any dolphins swimming around. There wasn’t any dolphins this morning but the pelicans were diving for fish and the gulls were driving them crazy trying to steal a fish from them.

Harry, the usual great blue heron/great egret hybrid, was hanging out on the roof on the pier panting in the heat.

Not many ships passing by this morning.

The dolphin show at Fort Desoto.

On August 16, 2018July 24, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals3 Comments

A baby dolphin was swimming close to Mom above.

The dolphins were swimming right under the fishing pier at Fort Desoto in early June. The water was clear and the sun was hitting the water just perfect so you could see them before they came up for air.