Not that early in the morning

On June 8, 2023May 29, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights4 Comments

I wasn’t up and out of the house that early in the morning. But, early enough to catch the sun before it got too high in the sky. The Safety Harbor fishing pier is one of the best spots to see a sunrise in Pinellas County. There is usually a crowd but this weekday morning wasn’t too busy.

I lingered for a while on the pier watching the sun go up.

As I was leaving and driving down Main Street I realized that they had recently held the sidewalk chalk festival. I stopped and snapped a few shots before heading out.

I stopped at the Oldsmar pier before home and they were getting ready for the weekend carnival at the park. It was late March so I was assuming this was a spring break carnival. I walked out on the pier and could see the workers finishing the set up.

I turned around on the pier and saw my favorite crab trap guy out in the water. This time he was close to the pier and I could see him emptying the traps more clearly this time. I’m hoping one of these days I’ll get to meet him. I think he saw me taking his picture and he was probably thinking “What is she doing? I have a permit for these traps.” But I really just think it’s cool to be out in a small boat with tons of pelicans following him.

At the piers

On May 18, 2023May 11, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

This is something you don’t see everyday in mid-March. That water was a little chilly, even with a short wetsuit. I was out for a short walk on the Oldsmar pier and saw this guy. It looked like fun but you really need some heavy upper body strength to hold that big sail up. Once he got up he went flying by and across the bay.

It was a quiet morning with only a few willets flying around so I headed over to the Dunedin marina.

These grackles were happily singing the morning away.

The usual beautiful scene from the marina.

The only birds I saw were willets and starlings on the little grassy area.

Also, house sparrows. They were busy taking dirt baths.

Early morning on the pier

On May 1, 2023April 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

It was early March and too nice outside to be inside so I headed over to nearby Oldsmar pier to sit for a while. When I first got there the eagle was sitting high up in the pine tree. He left pretty quickly and then made several passes over the pier.

The tide was low and left a small sandy spot in between the mangroves. I was watching this cute dog find a stick and then turn around and show it to his human before heading in the water with it. I’m not sure if he was saying “Dad, look what I found” or “Dad, can I play with this stick”.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen someone catch a fish here.

The crab trapper guy was closer to the pier this morning. It’s fun to watch the pelicans follow him, hoping for a free handout. I was recently going through some old pictures, cleaning out files and saw that I had taken pictures of him in 2015 from Philippe Park. This guy has been doing it for a while. It would be a nice side gig but I’m not sure how many crabs he gets in this northern part of the bay. I wonder if he needs a helper. I would do it for free a few times. To sit out in the boat with the pelicans in the early morning would be great.

A day at the pier

On April 13, 2023April 2, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals9 Comments

It was a perfect morning for spending some time sitting on a bench at the Oldsmar pier. As I walked out on the pier I noticed a small “fever” of stingrays in the shallow water. I took the above with my phone. They were pretty close and it was cool to watch them slowly swim out in the bay.

In late February the wintering ducks were still there. A few came close to the pier. Looks like they were lesser scaup.

I often see dolphins here but they are usually so far out in the bay that they look like little dots. This morning there were two that came swimming close to the pier. They were feeding and herding the fish close to the shallow part to feed easier. They splashed around for a few minutes before heading back out to the bay.

The dolphins headed straight into the floating ducks and off they went.

An osprey and a Forster’s tern flew close to the pier.

Far across the bay I could see an eagle chasing an osprey. The eagle was after his fish which he stole from the osprey but then took off in the opposite direction.

When I first got to the pier it was clear blue skies but later the clouds moved in.

Out and about

On February 16, 2023February 7, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I found a great blue heron nest in the neighborhood. It sits high up in the pine tree over a small pond. I’ll be keeping an eye for babies but I won’t see them until they are pretty big since the nest sits far back on the branch.

I’ve been stopping by the neighborhood eagle nest almost every day hoping to see a baby head pop up. This was in mid-January and at this point I wasn’t even sure there was a baby although an adult has been sitting here every time I go by. I hadn’t seen anything being fed at this point. It was still early though.

I noticed the kestrel is back. There was one hanging out around the eagle nest all last winter so I wonder if this is the same one.

It’s a few days later and I see an eagle sitting on the nest tower. I couldn’t see another one but the mate might have been laying down on the nest. A turkey vulture flew close by.

I drove by the big open field in front of the utility towers near the back of the neighborhood and I could just barely see movement on a tower far down the clearing. I got my camera out thinking it was probably an osprey on that nest. The top shot was cropped up a little and I can see there’s an eagle on the nest. When I extremely cropped it up I could see a baby big enough to be sitting up on the nest. (There were 2 babies on this nest). I can’t get any closer to this nest since it’s sitting on Duke Energy property.

I could see a red shoulder hawk sitting high up in the tower in front of the eagles.

After seeing the far away nest I turned around and saw white pelicans flying high overhead. I waited a little while hoping they would get closer since they were just circling around. They came a little closer and then took off over the trees.

A few days later I stopped by RE Olds Pier to see if any eagles were fishing along the pier but all I found was a great egret and a spotted sandpiper.

The tide was so low that you could see an old crab trap out in the water. I wonder how long this has been sitting there with all of those barnacles on it.

The vertical oyster garden ropes that are hanging off the pier were exposed and are starting to get covered with barnacles. There may be some small oysters forming on it as well. They placed them here to grow oysters since they help filter and clean the water.

Walking through a shower

On February 2, 2023January 27, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights3 Comments

I love these foggy winter mornings. It’s quiet and most people stay in when it’s like this. Right after Christmas I went out for a walk at the nearby Oldsmar pier. It was so damp that if felt like I was walking through a cool shower.

I then headed over to the Dunedin marina for a quick walk. The fog was almost gone but dark clouds had moved in and it started to drizzle.

I stopped at the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way home (a slightly long detour) and the sun was trying to peek through.

I have been to the fishing pier at Safety Harbor a million times but I had never been in the hotel next door. I pass it as I’m doing my walk but I never stop in. I had heard their Christmas decorations in the lobby were pretty so I decided to check it out. It’s a fairly small lobby but still had a lot of history in it. One of these days I might have to eat at the restaurant here.

Pink on a cloudy day

On November 5, 2022October 18, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was a cloudy day in late September and I stopped by the Oldsmar pier to look for the eagles. I didn’t find any eagles but I did see something almost as good. Two spoonbills were feeding along the grass next to the pier. The white ibis are almost always feeding here but this was the first time I had seen spoonies at this pier.

They fed for a while, stopping a few times to keep an eye on me.

Someone walked up behind me and off they went.

A yellow crowned night heron was also walking around. I think he was looking for lost mangrove crabs.

So glad to see the eagles again

On October 27, 2022October 2, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I finally caught the bald eagle in the tree at the Oldsmar pier. I had stopped by several times with my camera before finding him sitting high up there. He didn’t stay long, taking off not long after I had arrived.

As he left, he flew by so close that I couldn’t fit his wings in. I still haven’t figured out if this is one of the eagles that has a nest in my neighborhood or somewhere else. There is a another nest nearby but that couple did not use it this past year. He always flies north towards my neighborhood when he leaves which is why I’m thinking it’s him.

Walking on the pier I noticed another eagle sitting in a tree at the far end of the park. He was facing the water and wasn’t very visable from the sidewalk but I caught the above from the pier.

A few of the other birds at the pier. I think that tricolored heron was keeping his eye on the sky in case the eagle was heading towards him.

A cormorant cruises by the pier.

The black terns were still there.

The next day I was heading up to Tarpon Springs for a walk and I saw 2 eagles on a tower. I pulled over into a parking lot and shot the above. It wasn’t until later when I cropped up the picture that I realized the eagle on the right is a dummy. I don’t know if they put the fake up there to attract or repel other birds. The real eagle on the left didn’t seem to mind. Now I laugh when I drive by there and see that fake sitting up there.

Storms and an eagle

On October 13, 2022October 4, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I was out for an early morning walk and stopped by RE Olds Park (named after Ransom Olds who invented the Oldsmobile and developed what is Oldsmar now) to see if there were any storm clouds moving in. After walking the pier I looked up in the big tree at the end of the pier and saw an eagle sitting there. I was bummed I didn’t have my camera. I took the above with my phone. I was glad to see it back here. Last fall I saw them here pretty regularly.

The storms were far away this morning but I could see a little bit of lightning so I didn’t stay long on the pier. They were coming off the gulf coast.

A few days later I stopped by the pier again with my camera and of course there was no sign of the eagle. This time there were storms out in the bay and over land. The sun was out over the park but there wasn’t any rainbows.

I caught some great blue herons cruising by.

I was surprised to find black terns here. I’ve only seen them at Gandy beach before. There was a small flock of them flying around trying to get bait fish. They were in all stages of molting with a few still having mostly black feathers. By now they are somewhere in South America for the winter.

A pelican with a pouch full of bait fish.

A creepy mangrove crab was walking along the railing.

Foggy morning at the piers

On March 3, 2022March 2, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights3 Comments

At the end of December I woke up and peeked out the window. It was really foggy so I got ready quickly and headed out the door. I love it when it’s foggy. I stopped by the nearby fishing pier early that morning and could not see across the bay. I could barely make out the end of the pier.

I noticed these strands of oyster shells hanging under the pier and looked them up when I got back home. These are VOG’s (vertical oyster gardens). The water around the shore of Safety Harbor and Oldsmar (which is Old Tampa Bay) was found to be the least healthy in all of the Tampa Bay. Not surprised. There’s a new Save Our Bay program and the easiest thing to start with was using oysters to filter out the water. One oyster can filter out 50 gallons of water a day. There were a lot of these on the dock and they are encouraging people who live on the water to hang these on their docks as well. It will take several months for the oysters to start to grow on these so I’ll keep an eye out.

Next I headed to the Safety Harbor fishing pier since I was close by running errands. It was foggy here as well but that didn’t stop those kayakers from being out.