The best place for sunrise in Tampa

On May 19, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights6 Comments

The Sunshine Skyway bridge was all lite up in purple before the sun came up. I was heading to Fort Desoto Park, my first time back since last June (more on my visit posted last week here).

I was at the park when it opened at 7am and headed straight to East Beach for sunrise. It was too early for spring migration and I wasn’t sure if I would see any shorebirds up at north beach since that part of the park had just opened up since the hurricanes so I didn’t rush.

I stopped at the bay fishing pier for more sunrise shots.

After my walk at north beach I stopped back by the bay pier to look for dolphins and realized the back half of the pier was closed due to damage from the hurricanes. They just rebuilt this pier last year. I think the pier was okay but a lot of the railings were missing or falling off.

The cormorants were enjoying having the end of the pier to themselves without fishermen in the way.

I missed driving down this street. It leads to the longer gulf pier.

The gulf pier was open and in good shape. It was pretty empty since it was cold and windy. There were only a few people fishing and I didn’t see any dolphins.

Watching the big boats go by.

A jellyfish on the sand.

I stopped at the East Beach turnaround before leaving and there were a few kiteboarders out in the wind. I’m sure that water was cold.

A quick video of them coming back into shore.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

The day before everything changed

On December 4, 2024January 21, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights6 Comments

Hurricane Helene was due to sneak by the Tampa Bay area with a direct hit much farther north on a Thursday night in late September (on my birthday). The area was expected to have rain, wind, record tides and flooding. I went out for a long walk the morning before. The morning was a little dreary which kept the heat down. The first thing I noticed when I got to the Dunedin marina was the flag. The usual flags were down and a single hurricane flag was flying. I don’t remember seeing this before.

It looked like any other rainy morning. Although people were still there pulling boats out of the marina and putting them on trailers to leave.

The water along the seawall was clear and I could see fish swimming around. I think these are tiny sheepshead fish with those stripes.

A great egret was still hanging around. I wonder if he knew what was coming.

Later that afternoon the clouds were getting crazy so I ran over to the Safety Harbor fishing pier area to see if I could catch some lighting.

The shade sails that cross the picnic area were already down and the tables were tied together.

These kiteboarders were enjoying the blasting wind. They were doing some great tricks and knew what they were doing. The wind was so strong it was no place for amateurs.

Six oystercatchers flew over my head and I was wishing I had my camera with me.

A sun dog halo was peaking through the palm trees.

Helene came through the next day with catastrophic flooding. Anyone near the coast, channel, inlet or river was flooded. You can read what I posted a few days after here. It’s now early December and a few of the parks near the coast are still closed including Fort Desoto Park. Many of the restaurants, shops and motels along the beach areas are still closed. Some are trying hard to renovate and get opened by spring break, some will not ever open again. Most of the homes that flooded are still waiting on permits, inspections, insurance money, workers, etc. It could be a year or two before most move back into their homes.

Flying across the water

On July 15, 2024September 1, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was the end of April and the end of spring migration. There would be a few stragglers coming through until mid-May but the majority of the birds had already come through. You would have to hunt pretty hard to find the late ones and it was already so hot. A lot of Cape May warblers were still around. I took so many pictures of these guys this spring since they were so plentiful and not shy.

I only saw one black throated blue warbler on this morning at Fort Desoto Park.

I saw several more blackpoll warblers. The top 2 are males and the bottom shot is a female.

A redstart was high up in the trees.

After walking the trails I headed out on the beach. I had not gotten to the park in time for sunrise this morning. The terns were still active flying around with fish.

The couple above was flirting and the male had brought the female a fish (their version of buying her dinner or in this case breakfast). She walked around him a few times with it and then gulped it down.

He was ready to mate but she was playing hard to get. They flew off so I’m not sure what happened.

It was windy this morning and before leaving I stopped at the east beach turnaround to watch the kiteboarders for a few minutes. It’s always fun to watch them flying across the water. They make it look so easy but it’s really hard to keep that kite up and stay on the water. I took the above with my camera and zoomed in.

I took these 2 with my phone so you can see how far away they are. A lot of them just getting started near the shore. It’s hard to get them all in one shot since they are all spread out across the water.

The end of the flamingo frenzy

On February 3, 2024January 23, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

The wild flamingo frenzy continued through the end of October. Flamingos blown in from Hurricane Idalia (late August) were showing up all over Florida as well some northern states. The one spotted near Safety Harbor was one of the last ones to be seen in the Tampa Bay area. I was nearby and stopped on a cloudy icky morning just to see if “HarborRita” (the name the locals gave her) was still there. At first it was really far out in the bay feeding but slowly moved her way towards the mangroves.

Far across the bay, the view of the causeway heading into Tampa.

A few days later I stopped by on a Sunday late in the day and there she was again.

It was windy and the kiteboarders were out in front of the pier. The view across the bay is a little better when the sun is behind me.

I took a quick walk around the boardwalk and found some roseate spoonbills trying to nap. They were far into the mangroves, trying to stay out of the wind.

I walked back to see if the flamingo was feeding. The water was pretty choppy and she looked like she was just trying to stay upright.

She eventually tucked her head in for a nap and that was my cue to head home. This was the last time I saw her.

Above was a post from one of the rescue groups in the area in early November. This was our own HarborRita that was rescued. The tag on her leg matched the one HarborRita was wearing. She was not doing well and was found in some mangroves slightly north of where she had been hanging out. She had a break in her wing that did not set correctly and would not have been able to fly home. She is now living at Busch Gardens with other flamingos.

Old birds and a new one

On July 27, 2023July 16, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was still late April, just a few days after my trip to Fort Desoto to look for migrating birds. I had heard there were some different birds there so I headed back down to the park. The sun was just coming up and I stopped on the bridge going into the park to snap the above with my phone. I knew even if I didn’t find any good birds it would still be a great day out.

The first thing I saw by the ranger’s house was lots of rose breasted grosbeaks.

There were also a lot of indigo buntings, both female and males.

A nice surprise was seeing the Louisiana waterthrush. It was only my 2nd time seeing one and the first time was in 2017, right here at the fountain.

This was my first Nashville warbler. I spent a good bit of time looking for him along with a lot of other people. He was found deep in the mangroves and would not come out. At first I got a picture of his feet, then his wing. Finally I was able to at least get a shot of his face.

An osprey flies by with something to cushion the nest.

Kiteboarders out on this beautiful breezy morning.

So far this year I had seen a handful of first sightings which was pretty good considering I was limping around all of this time with a terrible case of plantar fasciitis. In January I got the black scoter and greater scaup, both were easy “get out of the car and snap” pictures. In February I got the Pacific loon and the vesper sparrow. April was the great tailed grackle and the Nashville warbler. In May I got 4 new birds but more to come on those later.

At the beach

On July 4, 2021March 11, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

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

On April 15, 2021April 8, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

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.

Flying across the water.

On March 7, 2019February 8, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights7 Comments

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.