Looking for some anis.

On April 25, 2026May 7, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

I was watching the pelicans diving for fish in late December. I got to Fort Desoto Park right at sunrise and stopped at the beach before heading to the woods to look for some birds.

Two rare birds had been hanging out here for several weeks. The above is not one of them. Starlings are common here but he looked pretty shining in the sun.

A grooved-billed ani and a smooth-billed ani were hanging out together near the bay pier wooded area. I saw them both briefly but was only able to get shots of the smooth-billed one before they both took off over the trees. They aren’t very attractive but they are cool birds anyway. Both were not new birds. The only time I saw a grooved-bill was in 2011 and there was a smooth-billed one here back in 2017.

After seeing the anis I went for a walk on the beach to look for shorebirds.

Plovers were plentiful including the black bellied plover and piping plover above. The piping plover was missing his feet and I’ve seen him several times at the park so he must be doing okay.

Looking across the lagoon, reddish egrets were feeding when a fish jumped out and made a big splash. They were both like “Where did it go?”.

As I was leaving the park I saw something black flying across the road so I pulled over and realized it was the anis in the berry bushes. The smooth-billed one was out in the open and I though he was going to eat the berries but he was just fanning himself.

This was the only shot I got of them both (one in the top left and one in the far right bottom). The grooved-billed ani seemed really shy compared to the other one. They are still at the park, several months later.

I made a quick stop at Crescent Lake Park on the way home to see if the white pelicans were there. Only a handful were hiding in the shade under the big banyan tree.

The only winter ducks that had showed up so far were a few lesser scaup. I checked back here weeks later and there were tons of white pelicans so more on those later.

Sunrise on the beach

On April 13, 2026May 7, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sightsLeave a comment

I was up early at the end of December, headed to Fort Desoto Park in south St. Pete. I’m usually lucky having no other cars behind me before going into the park and I can stop on the bridge and take a quick shot of the sun coming up behind the Skyway bridge.

The sun was already up past the bridge when I got into the park (it opens at 7am so you can’t get there in the dark except during a short window of time before the time changes). My first stop was the East Beach turnaround but since the sun was to the far right I drove over to the East Beach picnic area.

I could see lots of barges out in the water. Looks like maybe they were dredging there.

High up in the sky were 2 guys on motorized paragliders. They must have had a fabulous view coming over the bridge.

I made my way over to the bay fishing pier. The end of the pier was still closed off due to damage from the hurricanes back in late 2024 and the pelicans were enjoying the space.

The pier bumpers where the ferry comes in at was full of fishing line. There was even a fish caught on it.

I finally made it out to North beach and it was super low tide.

A sailboat was stranded on the beach.

I came to the park to look for some rare birds that I was able to see but more on them later.

Lots of birds at the park

On January 31, 2026February 5, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

More shots from my trip to Fort Desoto Park in October. I was able to catch a rare snowy plover running across the sand. The snowy plover is considered state-designated threatened in Florida and globally critically imperiled. The park has a handful that nests here in the spring and the area is roped off all year long. Occasionally you see one running across the beach like I did this morning.

A sanderling digging for bugs in the sand.

This laughing gull turned his back on me thinking I was going to try and steal his little bait fish. I tried to tell him I didn’t like sushi but he didn’t believe me.

A piping plover missing both of his feet. He seems to be doing well in spite of this. The rangers know about this bird and as long as he can fly off they weren’t going to try and catch him.

The beach was dotted with small jellyfish.

I walked out to the end of the fishing pier hoping to see some dolphins.

A fisherman had pulled up a net full of bait fish and two snowy egrets were fighting over something. There was plenty of fish on the pier so I’m not sure what was going on. I was able to walk around the mess to get a better view of what was going on.

Word got out that bait fish were flopping on the pier and the snowy egrets came rushing in to grab a free snack. It was chaos for a few minutes while the fisherman tried to pick up all of the fish.

A crevalle jack fish was caught and laying on the pier. He looked small but so pretty. I’m thinking this one is too small to eat so maybe the person was going to use it for bait fish.

Diving for breakfast

On January 26, 2026February 5, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

More sunrise shots from my visit to Fort Desoto Park in October.

Zooming in with my camera I could see some barges out in front of the bridge.

When I first got to the north beach I saw 2 white pelicans floating in the lagoon. There had been hundreds here a few days before but this was all I saw on this morning. Two more flew by right before the sun was up over the trees.

Shorebirds in the sunrise.

Brown pelicans were diving for bait fish far off the beach. It was funny to watch the laughing gulls trying to steal the fish from the pelican’s beak.

A Cooper’s hawk flies overhead, scaring and flushing the shorebirds.

After leaving the beach I stopped by the Arrowhead trail to peek out across the water and I could see the tons of white pelicans far off a spoil island. They were hiding there this morning instead of feeding in the lagoon off the beach.

Boat traffic along the water.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) at Image-In-Ing.

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.

An almost perfect morning out

On October 22, 2025October 22, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

It was an almost perfect morning at the end of May at Fort Desoto Park. It was too warm to be perfect and there wasn’t a breeze on the beach.

A snowy egret was fishing for breakfast.

Red knots are threatened in Florida due to loss of habitat. The beach in Fort Desoto is critical to their survival as they stop over here to feed during migration. There was a small flock still feeding that hadn’t left yet for the tip of South America for the summer.

The sky and tidal pool were filled with royal and sandwich terns.

I caught a few of them taking a late morning bath.

A tiny Wilson’s plover stops to pose for me.

One of the resident white morph reddish egrets was dancing for his fish.

A morning on the beach

On October 8, 2025September 9, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

At the end of May I was walking out towards north beach at Fort Desoto Park. I looked back before stepping on the beach and saw that the sun was rising fast. I could see the silhouette of the osprey nest.

Zooming in it looked like one of the baby osprey was being fed.

I walked back towards the nest and could get a better shot of the two almost grown babies sitting with a parent. The baby on the left was pulling a fish apart.

A pretty willet in his breeding feathers was the first shorebird I saw.

Farther up the beach I ran into the 2 juvenile oystercatchers. These guys were growing up fast having hatched at the end of April. They were banded recently with YC6 & YC7.

They were both just walking the beach together.

Mom was close by.

Another oystercatcher showed up and Mom started screaming at it (it wasn’t Dad). Mom chased the interloper far down the beach.

The babies knew there was danger and they both hunched down into a sand holes and stayed there until Mom got back.

I think this was Dad that came back first because the babies ran to him.

Out at the far north beach tip I could see big boats out in the gulf.

Both parents were on the osprey nest when I got back to the parking lot. This was a great nest, sitting low and right in the parking lot.

Tiny rare babies growing up on the beach

On August 16, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

It was May 1st and I was back at Fort Desoto Park early. The sun was already up when I drove over the bridge into the park. I had a feeling the oystercatcher eggs might have hatched earlier this week so I wanted to get out on the beach early.

I had a short hike out to the oystercatcher nest but I got distracted by the spoonbills feeding in the tidal pool just off the parking lot. There were also several tricolored herons feeding.

I don’t see yellowlegs here often so I had to stop for a shot of it as well.

I made it out to the nesting area and the babies were already on the move. The area had been roped off so people wouldn’t trample through the nesting area and the parents were feeding the babies inside the roped area. There were three eggs but only two hatched. One hatched late Tuesday, one hatched Wednesday and I was there early Thursday morning.

They were so tiny and hard to spot across the roped off area. They stayed close to the parents as one parent would take off and then come back 5-10 minutes later with food. I was taking these with my 180-600mm zoom lens and they are cropped so they were really far away.

As we waited for the parents to bring in food to the babies we got distracted by the reddish egrets coming by including the white morph one.

Skimmers flying by.

Mom had a juicy piece of food in her beak, maybe a piece of clam.

After a while the babies got tired and plopped down for a long nap so I headed out. There were a handful of photographers there and several bird stewards watching the area so people don’t get too close. The bird stewards are all volunteers and keep watch over the nest and these rare babies while they grow up making sure they are safe from the tourist crowds.

There was an osprey nest in between the beach and the parking lot so I stopped for a few minutes and caught both babies looking at Mom.

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.

Sunrise and the dolphin show

On July 28, 2025August 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals4 Comments

Another early morning at Fort Desoto Park. It was mid-April and I was going down to the park (about an hour south of me) regularly since it was spring migration time. Besides seeing different birds coming through, the sunrise was later and we could get in to see the sun come up from the beach (the park opens at 7am). The mosquitoes weren’t bad yet and those pesky summer tourists hadn’t arrived yet in big numbers.

Seafoam on the beach.

Turning around I noticed the moon was still up high as the sun came up.

Someone had left this shoe on a tree along the trail. It must have been in the water a long time with all of the barnacles on it.

This view never gets old.

Boat traffic headed in and out of the bay.

After a walk on the trails and the beach I stopped at the gulf fishing pier before leaving. The dolphins were busy trying to steal fish from the fishermen and were coming close to the pier.

This one came right up under the pier and I could see his fresh scars. I’m not sure what could have made those. He might have scraped his head along the pier pilings trying to get bait fish.

A quick video taken with my phone as he glided under the pier.