Flying up high and swimming underneath

On March 25, 2026April 10, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals5 Comments

A few days before Christmas Brett and I went for a long walk along the water at the St. Pete Pier. As we drove into the parking lot I noticed the orchid trees were still blooming (although they were past the peak). I got out of the car and saw a flock of nanday parakeets flying into the tree right in front of our car. It was another one of those “I wish I had my camera” moments. Even though the parakeets blend into the leaves they were easy to spot because they were so LOUD.

The tide is usually super low in the winter.

We passed a party going on in the street. There was a DJ and they were playing music. They were dressed so colorfully and looked like they were having fun.

The entrance to the pier was decorated for the holidays.

We saw a lot of dolphins this morning.

These guys were cast netting for mullet. It’s hard to catch mullet with a fishing pole so most people use the nets. There were several boats along the pier pulling up the fish and the ones who had just arrived had the empty boats. The “mullet run” season runs September through November but they must have still been swimming around by the thousands in late December. I’m assuming there was going to be a lot of local restaurants with smoked mullet on the menu after this morning.

The dolphins were also doing some fishing in the same spot.

Climbing up the stairs of the pier to the top level, I could see Tampa far behind the sailing class.

Looking towards St. Pete.

On our walk back to the car I could hear more parakeets screaming as they fly by me under the sun.

They flew into a nearby palm tree and hung around for a few minutes before taking off again. These parakeets are wild here but not native to Florida. They were brought here from central America and have been growing in population since the 60’s.

Finally out on my favorite beach again

On May 14, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights9 Comments

It felt really good to be out on this beach in mid-February. My last visit to Fort Desoto Park was in June. I didn’t make it down here in the summer and then the hurricanes hit in September and October. The park had a lot of damage and was closed for several months. They opened back up in stages and the north beach area did not open until early February. To the naked eye it looked the same but there were small changes. The park rangers sifted through the sand on the main beach areas to clear all of the debris that had washed up on the beaches here. I was out at the beach just after the sun came up (I stopped at East Beach to get sunrise shots but more on those later).

It was low tide and I walked up to the end of Outback Key.

The sun coming up over seashells.

The back side of the lagoon had a lot of big clam shells that had washed up with the tide. The shells were empty and most were covered in barnacles. Wilson’s plovers were hiding among them. It’s a good place for them to nap because people wouldn’t be walking through those shells and stepping on them.

A piping plover walks by me with his orange legs.

All of the usual birds were on the beach including great blue herons, reddish egrets and a wintering ring-billed gull.

Almost to the northern end of the key. It was going to be a long walk back.

This guy got stranded in the low tide. It was going to be a while before that boat was getting out of that spot. The shorebirds were keeping him company.

I noticed that the grassy areas at the north tip were gone and found out that they didn’t wash away. They were covered with sand. In certain areas you could see how much more sand had stuck on the beach during the storms.

Typical shots from winter morning walks

On April 23, 2025May 11, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights9 Comments

Shots from my morning walk at the Safety Harbor (now damaged) fishing pier in late January. I love mornings like these, cold and sunny. I think I had a light jacket on over my long sleeve t-shirt. The tide was crazy low which is usual in the winter. I was able to walk down into the exposed sand and under the pier (which disappeared during Hurricane Helene).

I made my walk along the water (from the walkway) before heading back to my car through Safety Harbor.

The tide had gotten even lower when I got back to my car. That little boat had to make sure it stayed close to the channel markers or it would get stranded on the sand.

Another walk a few days later and the sun had come up over the clouds. The tide wasn’t as low this morning.

Tides go up and down

On March 21, 2024March 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights7 Comments

It was mid-December and a bad storm was coming later in the night. I went out that morning for a walk in Dunedin and took the above at the Weaver Park fishing pier. The tide was super low with the impending storm. The small floating dock at the end of the pier was almost on the ground. I walked down the steep ramp and it felt weird looking up at the poles next to the dock.

The sun was trying to peek out but it never did make an appearance.

The storm came through in the middle of the night and brought a lot of flooding and downed trees. The next morning I headed out to the Safety Harbor fishing pier and found that the parking lot was under water. I parked farther away and went for a walk along the waterfront. The fishing pier was closed so the city could inspect it for damage just in case. While it opened later that morning I have recently heard they are going to tear down the old pier and build a new one some time this year.

The tide was up pretty high, almost to the sidewalk.

When I was walking along the nearby mangrove boardwalk I found a night heron hiding in the mangroves, away from the wind.

This wasn’t the highest the water has been but I’m sure it gave the people who live nearby a little scare. I love stormy days in the winter since it makes it feel like winter here but not the flooding they sometimes cause.

Thankful and Heartbroken

On October 6, 2022October 4, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

This is a meme that is floating around social media from people in the Tampa Bay area. Maybe it’s a way of saying we have survivor guilt? For days Hurricane Ian was heading right to us and at the last minute it turned and made a direct hit south of us (The same thing happened in 2004 with Hurricane Charley). Total devastation from Fort Myers to Naples. Then massive flooding across central Florida. It was gut wrenching to watch the news. Most of St. Pete lost power but we only had yard debris so we were really lucky.

Sunset on the night of the hurricane, across the street from us.

We had super low tide the day after as well as the day of. These were taken on Thursday, the day Ian was forecasted to hit Tampa. Later that night the water came back with a surge but nothing like it was south of us.

Early Friday morning I went for a walk at the Dunedin causeway and the tide was still crazy low.

You could see where seagrass had been churned up and left in the low tide.

This is a common sight all over the bay, stranded boats. Many had the anchor come up and floated towards sea walls and bridges. Some got stranded at low tide. (Although these are nothing like the pictures from Fort Myers and south with boats on top of buildings and in peoples homes.).

Here is a video from CNN that shows the aftermath of Ian.

Red Cross Donation site.

Dancing red and pink

On April 28, 2022April 16, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

I found one of the reddish egrets feeding in a small lagoon out on the beach at Fort Desoto in mid-March. It wasn’t too hard to find. There were several other photographers already there. He was dancing around looking for fish and was quite entertaining for a while. They use their wings to cast a shadow on the water so they can see the liffle fishies better. The color on their faces are brighter this time of year during mating season.

I started heading north on the beach and saw another one fishing. His beak wasn’t quite as pink as the first one but he was still beautiful.

Several red breasted mergansers were also fishing and one got too close to the egret. The egret did his best eagle imitation and the merganser scooted off.

It’s easy to spend all morning watching these guys dancing around in the water.

I eventually pulled myself away from the egrets and headed for a long walk up the beach. It was super low tide and you could walk out forever. The beach looks pink when the tide is this low (assuming from the algea in the sand).

Hunting for shells

On January 6, 2022March 17, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights7 Comments

The best spot in the Tampa bay area to look for shells is Honeymoon Island, out past the Dunedin causeway. Thanksgiving morning we heading over for a quick walk before the cooking began. It started off cold but warmed up quickly as the sun kept rising. The tide was super low and you could walk out pretty far in ankle deep water. I love mornings like this. Sunny and cool, low tide and very few people out.

My sister’s stash.

The beach at low tide

On November 30, 2021November 25, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

It’s not often we see whimbrels around here. The pair at Fort Desoto have been very accommodating when you can find them. They were right when you walk out on the beach the morning I found them in late October, feeding along the grass line before the sand.

It was extreme low tide and the buoys were exposed. The ruddy turnstones were picking tiny crabs off of them for breakfast.

This willet also found some breakfast.

The little tiny shorebirds are so cute creeping around in the muck. A snowy plover and a sanderling.

Skimmers cruising by.

Something spooked the birds way out on the sandbar.

There’s something magical about being out on the beach at low tide early in the morning. There aren’t many people out and you can walk forever and feel like you are out in the middle of the gulf.

Dead Australian pine tree graveyard on the beach. The stumps have all been smoothed down by the water and have been bleached out by the sun.

Dark and cloudy at the beach.

On March 1, 2021March 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

It was a cold quiet windy day at Fort Desoto in early January. I walked out to the north beach and saw nothing as far as the eye could see. Then this flash of movement caught my eye. A lone female red breasted merganser. She didn’t stay long and neither did I.

I headed over to the fishing pier and found a ring billed gull with a snack. The laughing gull was trying it’s best to steal it away but he wasn’t successful.

This was a scene all over the park. Osprey getting ready to start nesting and were coupling up. They both were eating fish.

Far away I could see skimmers, gulls and terns flying around.

The Clipper was cruising by the fishing pier.

It was a little creepy out on the beach. I only saw a few other people. We were all bundled up this morning.

It was extremely low tide. The clouds were getting darker so I decided not to head out on the spit. Even with the low tide I’d have to slosh through some water and wasn’t up for having cold feet this morning. I still love the beach here even on a day like this.

image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup Our World Tuesday Graphic

All sand, no birds

On March 12, 2020March 5, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights5 Comments

Pano of the north beach tip at Fort Desoto during the extreme low tide.

It was cold and windy and a perfect day for a walk on the beach. There were a few other people here but I still felt like I had the beach all to myself. This was the lowest tide I have ever seen here. Someone told me it was because of the full Snow moon (the tides are lowest during the full moon in February). I came out to see if there were any shorebirds but I think the wind kept them hiding somewhere else.

The backside of Outback Key was exposed and all of those little mounds had live sand dollars hiding under them.

A few of them partially exposed.

I’ve read that the pink sand comes from microscopic animals in the water.

Textures on Outback Key.

Walking back to the parking lot.

The beach was littered with the above.

This one had a lot of things living on it.

My stash from the morning when I got back home and washed them off. The beach was covered in whole dead sand dollars. It’s rare to find them not broken. I like collecting shells with barnacles. I feel like it gives them personality.

SkyWatch Friday