An early morning on the beach

On July 9, 2025August 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights3 Comments

In early April I was out early enough to see the lights still shining on the Sunshine Skyway bridge. I was on my way to Fort Desoto Park. The park opens at 7am and this time of year the sun comes up later so if you get to the park right when it opens you can catch sunrise.

I was out on east beach at 7:05 and zoomed in to see pelicans diving for fish right in front of the bridge.

The gulls were also swarming around.

After some shots at east beach I quickly headed over to the bay pier to get a few more shots before the sun was up too high.

The above osprey was having breakfast.

I’m not sure what this nanday parakeet was eating, or maybe just chewing on the branch.

Over on north beach I could see the oystercatcher sitting on eggs. This area had been roped off and guarded with bird stewards the entire time this couple were sitting on eggs. They are state-designated threatened due to loss of habitat. Their eggs blend into the sand and it would be easy for someone to trample over them if the parent left the nest (due to crows, gulls or other birds bothering them).

Looking out at the gulf.

Watching a grackle harassing the much bigger great blue heron on the pier.

More shots from the bird sanctuary

On April 6, 2023March 29, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I’m finally getting around to posting the additional pictures from my visit to the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary in late January. The wild great egrets were just starting to nest in the trees over the exhibits. They nest here since the eggs will be somewhat safe from predators and they may get a free snack.

This night heron was sleeping in the mangrove trees. It was a little chilly this morning so he had his face tucked in.

The sanctuary has tons of young night herons since the night herons also nest in the trees and they also nest over the nettings that enclose some of the injured birds. The juveniles look very different from their parents. They are funny to watch and act like clowns.

Looks like one of the injured oystercatchers has a broken wing.

The view from the observation tower at the back of the sanctuary. It’s a rare sight to see the beach so empty. It was chilly and spring break hadn’t started.

Splish, Splash

On February 18, 2023February 10, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

In early January I headed out to see what I could find on the Dunedin causeway. I was hoping for another look at the black scoter in better light since I heard she was still around and it was a sunny morning. I couldn’t find her and heard that she was floating around on the other side of the bay. I did find an oystercatcher couple though.

Both of them were feeding when I first saw them. Then they both started taking baths.

It was fun watching them splashing around. They both eventually came out and started walking down the causeway. It would be great to see them with a baby this spring but I’m sure they nest on one of the spoil islands close by. Once all of the spring breaks start this causeway will be packed.

Sunrise and beach birds

On October 17, 2022October 14, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I found the whimbril on another trip to Fort Desoto Park in late August. He was right when you walk out on the beach so he wasn’t hard to find.

An oystercatcher was taking a bath.
A snowy egret with a fish for breakfast.

A ring bill gull was posing for me.

I found another whimbrel far up on Outback Key.

The sun was just coming up over the trees when I headed out for a long walk on the beach.

I’ve slowed down a little on my blog posts for a while. I had shoulder surgery on the 6th and can’t pick up anything heavier than a pound for 6-7 weeks so I won’t be out with my camera for a while. I’ll probably be caught up with previous outings by the end of October. I still plan to get in my walks with my phone starting later this week though. I do have my camera set up on a tripod in front of the back window hoping to catch some migrating birds coming through our backyard so I don’t miss out on fall migration completely this fall.

Early spring migration at Fort Desoto

On May 26, 2022May 23, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

It was a beautiful morning when I got to Fort Desoto Park in early April. I stopped by the East Beach turnaround to get a shot of the sun coming up over the bay. I had high hopes for seeing some migrating birds that has stopped by but it was still a little too early for spring migration. Last April we had a really slow migration with hardly any birds stopping by so I’m hoping we don’t have a repeat.

A pileated woodpecker was the first bird I saw, high up in a tree.

A hooded warbler and a black and white warbler with a snack. Normally I would be excited but I had just seen both of these in my backyard.

There were at least 3 prothonotary warblers in a big bush in front of the water fountain being very cooperative. It was the only other migrating bird we saw that morning. There were a lot of people out looking. Again, it was still early in the month.

An opsrey was eating a fish in the tree behind the prothonotary warbler. I had to take a shot before heading to the gulf fishing pier for a quick walk before heading home.

I got to the fishing pier and saw the reddish egret that has the white wings fly by.

There were a lot of birds at the little beach next to the fishing pier. The usual gulls, terns and oystercatchers. But there was something else that looked different.

A rare kittiwake was sitting there with the other birds. After a while I realized a ton of people were at the pier taking pictures of him as well. This is only my 2nd kittiwake sighting. Back in 2013 I was able to see the immature one at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge fishing pier. I had heard there was one seen in 2017 and this was the 3rd sighting recorded in Pinellas county ever. People were phoning and texting friends and by noon a big crowd had formed. Everyone gave him space and stayed off the beach area. They even stopped tourists from walking through the area. Twice he took off and flew down the pier and came back on the beach.

Laughing gulls were fighting over stolen bait fish (the one on the left has one in his beak).

A boat cruises by the lighthouse on Egmont Key.

Usual things at Fort Desoto

On November 16, 2020March 2, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Lots of little birds on Outback Key at Fort Desoto. After a morning of looking through all of these little birds for anything unusual with no luck, I headed over the fishing pier to see what was going on there.

My friend TOTO was hanging out near the fishing pier (he is tagged with a band that has TOTO on it). He’s been around for years.

A snowy plover was skipping around in low tide.

Sushi for breakfast.

Pelicans were also diving for their sushi breakfast.

“Whatta you want lady?”

I think that’s a piece of apple in this crow’s beak. At least it’s not a chip.

What is he doing up here? I have never seen a reddish egret hanging around the fishing pier. They are usually feeding along the shoreline.

Little birds on the beach

On November 7, 2020October 19, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

A perfect morning out at Fort Desoto wouldn’t be complete without seeing an oystercatcher. This one with the red band is a regular at the park. Someone out on the sandbar walked by and he came flying right by me.

A sandwich tern making a landing.

A tiny snowy plover on the exposed sand.

Piping plovers have orange legs.

A great egret cruising by.

A young red knot.

Lots of different shorebirds at Fort Desoto in early October.

A new bird in late October

On December 9, 2019February 18, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I had heard he was there for a over a week before I made it down to Fort Desoto. I headed down to the park early one Saturday morning in late October thinking it would be a needle in the haystack story. As I drove into the park I saw several people with binoculars in a field near the boat ramp. After walking through ankle deep ant infested water (the field was flooded due to recent rains) I found the Vermilion Flycatcher. He was out in the open buzzing from tree to tree so it was pretty easy to spot that flash of red unless you weren’t paying attention and thought it was a cardinal. It was the first time I have heard of one being in the Tampa bay area so there were a lot of people coming through that morning looking for him. He’s a beautiful bird and totally worth enduring the over 50 ant bites.

Otherwise, there were just the usual migrating birds at the park. This female rose breasted grosbeak was very accommodating.

The white pelicans are back but they were across the lagoon. You can tell how much bigger they are than our resident brown pelicans.

Osprey have taken over the park. They are everywhere.

Shorebirds near the fishing pier.

TOTO is still hanging out at the park. He’s got a band on his legs with TOTO. I’ve been taking pictures of him for over 8 years. He’s always there with his girlfriend.

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

Little birds on the beach.

On October 8, 2019October 8, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Lots of oystercatchers at the north beach at Fort Desoto. Including the first one that has the TO bands on his legs. I have pictures of him as far back as 2011.

A ruddy turnstone still in his summer feathers.

Two little plovers. A piping plover on top and a semipalmated plover on the bottom.

A mom and juvenile sandwich tern.

An almost grown black skimmer taking a break on the sand.

Pelicans resting on the shore.

Linking to My Corner of the World.

Fort Desoto in early January

On March 14, 2019February 15, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Little birds along the shore at Fort Desoto Park.

Weird sea slugs that were on the sand at low tide. The muck was full of these.

The tide would be coming in soon to wash this guy back into the water.

A very large raft of ducks far out in the water near the Sunshine Skyway bridge. I think these were mostly ring neck ducks.

Scenes from the beach.

In early January I was walking the trails and noticed an owl sitting in an old osprey nest.

Not a bad way to be stuck in traffic. On my way home I got stuck on the bridge for a few minutes while the bridge was up waiting for some tall boats to pass underneath.