Out on the beach at Fort Desoto in July, I found a few birds including a laughing gull, a semi palmated plover and a sanderling.
The marbled godwits were busy feeding.
A reddish egret flies in from across the lagoon.
Out on the fishing pier, the birds were lined up waiting for someone to drop their bait fish.
This great egret was looking a little rough. I’m thinking he’s molting.
A cormorant busy preening on the light post.
A ship heading out for a long voyage.
I love being out in the fog so when I peaked out the window in mid-February I got ready quickly and headed out the door for a walk on the Dunedin causeway. It kept getting foggier as the morning went on. I guess the sea fog was rolling in. The tide was super low which made it even cooler.
I had my camera in the car so I pulled it out to get some shots of the oystercatcher couple that was feeding along the causeway. Someone walked up behind me and spooked them to fly to the other side of the causeway.
A few of the other birds included a sanderling, a snowy egret, a marbled godwit and a young ring billed gull feasting on a dead fish.
Later I saw the oystercatchers again and snapped a few more pictures before leaving. They seemed to be having a lot of luck with whatever they were eating (tiny crabs?).
Things were quiet in the area in late October. Fall migration was pretty slow but I still wanted to get out for a walk so I headed to North Shore park that sits on the bay near downtown St. Pete.
It looked like rush hour traffic far out in the bay with all of the sailboats. People were also kayaking and wind surfing. It was still warm out so the water was the place to be.
I had a nice walk along the water before heading home for lunch.
The skimmers lined up along the shoreline at Fort Desoto.
Out on Outback Key spit, I could see tons of shorebirds from the beach.
So many shorebirds, so little time. The spit was full of different shorebirds but nothing new on this trip. The tide was high in mid-October early in the morning so I was wading knee deep to get out to the area where the shorebirds were. It was a slow walk just making sure I didn’t sink and go under. Everything was packed in my backpack but you just never know.
There were a few marbled godwits at Fort Desoto Park.
Least terns
I think this is a juvenile sandpiper.
Lots of plovers running around including the Wilson’s plover in the first picture and piping plovers with orange legs.
Sleeping sanderlings
Soon the skimmers will be gone. They are rare to see in the winter at the park.
Lots of shorebirds at Fort Desoto in early June. It felt good to be out stretching my legs along the shoreline. Even though it was hot there was a good breeze coming off the gulf.
It’s always fun to see marbled godwits with those pink toothpick beaks.
The crow was mistaking the trash for food.
A crab coming up on shore when the tide went out. He made it back in though.
Jump! A great blue heron taking off from the roof of the pier cover.
A nice morning to be outside.
I heard this cicada screaming from the mangroves near the pier. I found him pretty quickly. Such a weird loud critter.
Lots of little critters on the wrack line at Fort Desoto in last September.
Quiet sleepy morning at Fort Desoto.
Pelicans were hanging out everywhere.
Shorebirds were everywhere.
Not much going on in late October.
After walking the nature trail at Honeymoon Island State Park, I headed over to the beach to see if there were any shorebirds hanging around.
The usual birds were there: marbled godwits, royal terns and dowitchers.
The waves were splashing over the jetties. It was fun to be out in one of the last cool windy days before the heat sets in (and the tourists).
Semipalmated plover
Marbled godwits (the avocet photobombed the last shot).
Royal terns
A few shorebirds on the shore. Only down here in Florida we call it a beach. So really, they should be called beachbirds. Found on the “beach” on the Courtney Campbell Causeway.