Birds at the downtown Tampa coastline

On September 6, 2017September 6, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Willet, laughing gull, oystercatcher, young blue heron and cormorants can all be found along the water at Davis Islands, a small island next to downtown Tampa.

Loggerhead shrikes are most prevalent there. They were in the bushes next to the boat ramp, in the trees that lined the yacht basin and on the fence that lined the airport. The ones on the fence were a parent and young one that was still being feed.

Mangroves line the yacht basin and the sea grapes in were in full bloom.

At first glance, there aren’t a lot of birds at the south end of Davis Islands where the small private airport and yacht basin meet up. There are lots of bicycles, joggers, walkers, and dog walkers along the road, most are not paying attention to the birds. People look at me like “Why is that girl staring up in the tree?” When you look along the shore line and up in the trees you see lots of things.

Linking to Wednesday Around The World.

Birds on the beach at Fort Desoto

On October 3, 2015October 3, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

A ruddy turnstone staring at me.

The usual oystercatcher walking along the water.

A willet walking by.

These godwits and willets were trying to sleep in the water.

I tried not to wake anyone up. They looked so peaceful.

The above are all black bellied plovers hanging around the marsh.

A sandwich tern fly by.

A handful of shorebirds that were hanging out at Fort Desoto in late September.

Saturday's Critters

Napping and breakfast in the morning

On August 19, 2015August 9, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

It’s always sad to see a one footed bird. This laughing gull seems to be doing okay though.

Take a “tern”. Royal terns and a sandwich tern.

The always present oystercatcher.

Dowitchers and willets taking a morning nap.

A baby laughing gull screaming for his mom to bring food.

Breakfast time for dowitchers.

Keeping an eye on me.

A few birds on the beach in the middle of summer.

Fort Desoto in mid-May

On June 15, 2015June 16, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

Lots of black bellied plovers on the beach.

Tiny Wilson’s plover.

Gimpy, one of the resident oystercatchers was watching me as looked for food.

A pretty red breasted merganser coming up for air.

I think this is a white eyed vireo but I can’t tell for sure from this shot.

The only Cape May warbler I saw this spring.

Mom is all alone now that her kids have gone off to “college”. She’s getting some much-needed rest after raising two hungry owlets.

Crazy wild parrots flying around near the beach.

Some left over shots from a trip to Fort Desoto beach in mid-May.

Our World Tuesday Graphic image-in-ing

The famous but still alive scarred oystercatcher

On January 4, 2015December 30, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I was standing on the beach in mid-December when I saw this oystercatcher fly right in front of me.

He was coming in for a landing on the beach.

Screaming the entire time.

I think he was just yelling for his mate to come over and join him.

He was looking for a good spot to look for food.

Which happened to be right in front of me so I sat down on the sand and watched for a few minutes.

He was picking through the seaweed and shells on the beach. I noticed the ring around his leg.

Back in April 2013, this oystercatcher had fishing line wrapped around his leg. The leg was swollen and it took several days for the rangers to catch him and take the line off. He would have lost that leg or worse if he hadn’t been caught in time. He still has the scar and is easy to spot if you can see his leg. He still shows up occasionally with his mate.

Such a beautiful bird.

His mate was keeping an eye on me.

I sat for while and watched them look for food. They slowly made their way down the beach and I left. I’ll always be on the look out for him.

On the beach at Fort Desoto

On October 6, 2014October 7, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography17 Comments

A regular on the beach. About a year ago, this oystercatcher had some fishing line wrapped around his leg and was cutting off the circulation. Someone took a picture of it and posted it on Facebook and a team of people were able to catch him and get the line off. You can still see the ring around his leg just above his foot.

Not a regular but a once in a while visitor, the piping plover.

The great blue heron kept walking back and forth right behind this guy and kept getting closer. We finally got his attention and told him to turn around. By then the heron was too close for him to even get a shot.

Someone on the beach told me this was a merlin. He was across the marsh so this is extremely cropped. It could also be a cooper’s hawk. Anyone know which?

A kingfisher flew over my head with a fish stuck on his beak. She took off into the woods to enjoy her snack alone.

A juvenile night heron has a crab.

Oh no, he dropped it.

He got it back quickly.

And gulped it down fast before it could get away again.

A quiet but perfect morning in mid-September at Fort Desoto.

Check out more pictures at Our World Tuesday Our World Tuesday Graphic

Also, check out more birds at Paying Ready Attention for

Fun morning at Fort Desoto – Skywatch Friday

On July 24, 2014July 21, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

An oystercatcher couple were feeding along the shoreline right when I walked out on the beach.

Upclose. He was digging pretty deep.

A dowitcher also digging for food.

It was dig deep day at the beach. Even the ibis were doing it.

A snowy egret cruising for tiny fish.

Turtle nests were everywhere at the park. I’ve never seen so many nests there before. The rangers keep them roped off and has even relocated a nest if the turtle lays the eggs right in the middle of a main tourist area. Taken with my Iphone. Update – on 7/20, the park reported having 86 turtle nests there. This is a record!

A busy day for some photographers. I think they were shooting a great blue heron. When you fly down from across the country, you’re out there concentrating and getting the most for your day. Kind of like what I did when I was in Arizona for vacation. Every day was packed. It’s nice to know I can stop by here for a leisure stroll and get pictures if I happen to see something fun. The guy in the bright blue shirt is the famous photographer, Moose Peterson. I have his book Captured and love it. I stayed away from his group since I knew they were busy but I have chatted with him before in the parking lot a few years ago.

Before I left the park, I stopped by the fishing pier to see if anything interesting was going on. There’s always snowy egrets chasing after dropped bait fish.

A great blue heron staring down at me from the shelter.

Someone had asked me how I had gotten the close up pictures of the bird’s face looking down at me. I took the above with my Iphone. There are several rain shelters on the pier and the birds hang out on the roof. You can walk right up to the edge of the roof and they stare down at you. They want to know if you’re going to throw them some food or fish.