At the beach

Posted on July 4, 2021 by dinajohnston

No, I did not take these this weekend. We avoid the beaches on holidays. We are fortunate enough to live here and can go to the beach any time so we don’t go during the busiest times. This was a beautiful Saturday morning in early May.

The wind was blasting and you could see all of the kiteboarders bobbing up and down across the water near the Sunshine Skyway bridge.

The usual birds near the fishing pier included a ruddy turnstone taking a break, a gull who was cruising the wind and a black bellied plover.

One last look for migrating birds at the ranger’s house came up empty. Only a young great blue heron and a white ibis in the fountain.

This osprey had built a nest right on the trail and was giving me the stink eye when I passed by. Luckily there isn’t much traffic on this trail when the heat sets in.

A windy morning at the beach

Posted on April 15, 2021 by dinajohnston

I had just walked out on to the beach when these two oystercatchers flew by and then circled around and landed in front of me.

A juvenile ring billed gull flew by.

Something spooked the sandpipers and they all took off.

I found the pair of whimbrels that have been sighted hanging out nearby the gulf pier. They were not skittish at all as shell collectors walked right past them. Of course the willet was trying to get in on the pictures as well.

Students from nearby Eckard Collage have been volunteering to help with hooked birds on the fishing pier. They were just arriving with their gear on this cloudy windy day. There’s a huge problem with birds getting caught in fishing line. Not just at this pier but other busy piers as well. Pelicans, cormorants and gulls are just some of the birds that get hooked while diving close to the people fishing. If people cut the lines, the birds fly off with tangled fishing line and get trapped in mangroves and starve to death. The girls are here to help show the fishermen how to reel in the birds and take the line off or the hooks out.

Meanwhile up at the east beach turnaround, the kiteboarders were out in full force on this windy morning.

Watching the board show

Posted on May 21, 2020 by dinajohnston

Kiteboarders at the Safety Harbor fishing pier in mid-April. These guys were doing the safe distance exercising thing.

Out in the bay.

I went out for a walk late one Sunday in mid-April and stopped by the fishing pier to see if there were any manatees hanging around. The fishing pier was roped off and it was going to be hard to spot them from the park. The park next to the pier was full of people although there wasn’t any big groups and everyone was spread out. The wind was gusting so there were several kiteboarders flying across the bay. It was fun to stand and watch them cruise by for a while.

Another morning at Fort Desoto

Posted on November 11, 2019 by dinajohnston

The usual birds at Fort Desoto in late September.

A fairly rare lesser black back gull was near the fishing pier. Little did I know that 2 weeks later I would see a greater one in Boston.

Pink and green covered the fields.

Rush hour traffic on the water.

A windy morning means lots of kiteboarders out on the water.

Flying across the water.

Posted on March 7, 2019 by dinajohnston

I wasn’t do the flying. I was taking pictures of the kiteboarders at Fort Desoto on an early morning in early January. It was cool and the wind was blasting so I wasn’t surprised when I walked out on the north beach and saw all of the kiteboarders flying across the water. That water was cold. They all had on wetsuits, some were more covered up than others. I think I was having as much fun watching them and taking pictures as they were (okay maybe not but they make it look so easy). At least I was warmer.