Sunset on the causeway

On December 31, 2025January 3, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights6 Comments

Back at the end of August I went for a sunset walk at the Dunedin causeway. The sun was still up pretty high so I had time for a long walk since I wanted to be at the other end of the causeway before the sun went down.

The sun was peeking through as I walked past the kayak rentals.

I made it to the west end with plenty of time.

Every Wednesday night jeep owners have a meet-up here to watch the sunset on the causeway. I counted 42 jeeps this night. They have events during the year such as the Trunk or Treat Halloween event that draws tons of people. During December many of the jeeps are decorated for Christmas.

When I got to the west bridge there were a lot of flying critters also watching the sun go down.

Heading back to my car I saw a great egret catch a fish and take off in front of me after swallowing it.

Almost down and I still had quite a ways to get back to my car. There wasn’t any clouds in the sky for a great after glow so I wasn’t paying attention on the way back.

Some hot summer walks

On December 27, 2025January 3, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I started my early walk in September at Philippe Park. I was still climbing the stairs to the Indian Mound, trying to get in shape for my trip to Italy. The flaming torch bromeliads were blooming along the stairs.

I have been seeing this crab trapper out in the upper Tampa bay for at least 10 years. He must have just started out this morning because when he starts pulling up the crab traps and dumping them in his storage bin the pelicans start to follow him.

I stopped by the Oldsmar pier before heading home and it was high tide. My timing was perfect because a dolphin came right up to the pier as I walked out. He circled around the area for a short time and then headed out to the deeper area of the bay.

The next morning I walked at the Dunedin causeway and stopped to enjoy the sunrise before it got too hot.

I could see a blue crab along the sea wall. He better watch out for those traps because this is what the crab trapper pulls up during the crab season.

A laughing gull takes a break in front of my car.

Hurricane damage in a small town

On May 5, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights3 Comments

Brett and I made the creepy cross over the Sunshine Skyway bridge in the fog in early February. I guess it was better that we couldn’t see how high up we were. We had a fun foggy walk at Robinson Preserve (earlier post here) that morning and then drove to the small fishing village of Cortez, north of Sarasota.

I had read that the area got hit really hard from both hurricanes (Helene in September and Milton in October) and some of the local restaurants were just opening up. They needed customers bad. A lot of hotels hadn’t opened back up yet and there wasn’t a lot of tourists in the area. We found a cute little seafood place right on the water.

We sat outside and had a view of a seafood intake processing plant next door. It was quiet that morning but the pelicans were using the roof to nap on.

One sat right in front of us. We didn’t stay long in Cortez. One of the main streets was closed off and there was still a lot of damage in the area.

After lunch we crossed over the bridge into Anna Maria Island. That restaurant on the right side of the picture was closed and I just read last week it was torn down due to extensive damage from one of the hurricanes. It had been opened since 1971 and is not going to be rebuilt. I’m sure luxury condos will end up there someday.

The parking lot was closed at the small municipal beach on Anna Maria Island. Parts of the beach were fenced off. We were able to find a parking spot nearby and walked over to take a look. Most of the old trees were blown over and had already been cut up and in piles. There was one remaining that will only have little shade this summer.

I could see the city pier down the beach. The pier building was still standing with some damage. The pier leading to it was gone. I’ve heard they will start rebuilding the pier soon and repair the building that housed a bait shop and small restaurant.

Cormorants floating in the still water on the gulf. The Sunshine Skyway bridge was somewhere in those clouds.

At the other end of the small island sat a 75 year old restaurant on the end of a pier. Brett and I had lunch at the Rod and Reel restaurant in 2015 and I took the above then. It was a fun place to spend the morning and have a great seafood lunch. Hurricane Helene wiped out the pier leading to the building and then Hurricane Milton wiped out the restaurant. There is nothing left but the sign, which was found on the island. The owner says he will rebuild but it will take years.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

A cold cloudy walk along the waterfront

On April 2, 2025May 11, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

I love these winter mornings in mid-January. It’s nice to be able to wear long sleeve shirts and a light jacket during my morning walk. I was at the Safety Harbor waterfront and it was 55 degrees. I could just barely make out the Tampa skyline across the bay.

The tide was low and there was still a lot of pier debris in the water from the hurricanes. New stuff floats in with every tide. After my walk along the water and Main Street I headed back to my car at the marina.

I noticed pelicans sitting in the tall mangroves along the back of the marina so I got my camera out of the car and snapped the above.

I was watching a cormorant (the orange beaked bird on the left) swimming around just under the water and was waiting for him to surface back up, hopefully with a fish. All of a sudden I noticed a horned grebe swimming up. They are not that common here but some winters we get a few of them passing through.

Two cormorants were synchronized swimming, passing right in front of me.

Then I realized there were 2 horned grebes. They are tiny diving ducks with beautiful red eyes.

A female anhinga stands guard on the channel marker.

A pelican flies close by.

The pelicans were diving for fish close to the marina and the laughing gulls would swoop in and try to steal the fish from their pouches when they brought their faces up. In the 2nd shot I caught a Forster’s tern (on the right) diving for a fish.

A yellow crowned night heron flies by and lands in the nearby muck.

Then a great blue heron flew by me and landed in front of the night heron. The night heron started quickly walking away. He wasn’t going to argue with a great blue heron that “he was here first”.

The St. Pete skyline

On February 3, 2025April 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights3 Comments

It was a beautiful morning in early November when I stopped by the St. Pete municipal marina at Demen’s Landing Park (named after Peter Demen who was one of the founding fathers of St. Pete. He named the city after his hometown in Russia).

A lone pelican sits on the piling and begs me to take his picture (so I took a ton)!

Off he goes.

Another pelican cruises low over the calm water.

There used to be 4 short fishing piers along this walk but after the 2 hurricanes only 1 survived and it’s closed off.

The sculpture across the water is a life sized sculpture of the bi-plane that pilot Tony Jannus flew to Tampa in 1914. This was the world’s first commercial plane flight with the first paying customer being the mayor.

This is a one of my favorite places to walk around and look at on the water. It’s a tiny park but so beautiful looking out on the bay and at the skyline.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Birds on the causeway

On November 11, 2024December 30, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I was out for a walk on the Dunedin causeway in early August and was watching the pelicans diving for fish. Brown pelicans dive for their fish and go full head on into the water. You would think they would get a headache but they do it over and over again.

Some short videos above of them diving. Several were flying by and taking the plunge. The bait fish around here is usually pretty good as well as bigger fish. There are usually a lot of people fishing along the water on the causeway and bridges.

The sun was coming up over the kayak rentals. It was early in the morning, well before the rental shop opened.

A cormorant posing on a rock near the shoreline, the water sparkling all around him.

The usual shorebirds (above are dowitchers) were on the north side feeding.

They were feeding in the muck and dead seaweed. I guess there’s good food in there. More dowitchers on top, a least sandpiper and a semipalmated plover on the bottom.

This one had muck on his face and beak.

A black bellied plover has a tasty morsel. Looks like some type of worm.

A great blue heron flies in to join the feast.

Out and about

On May 2, 2024April 22, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

Views from my early March walk at the Dunedin causeway. I saw something moving down in the water and peeked over the seawall to see an anhinga drying off on a shelf. He was like “Don’t be looking over in my spot.”. I took these with my phone so he was really close.

When I got over to the marina I found a great egret and pelican on the dock. They are so used to be around people on this dock that they are not very skittish. The pelican eventually when back in to the water to start feeding again.

Just me and my shadow during low tide in front of the marina. The water was like glass this morning.

The view through the mangroves.

The purple martins were back in their condos. They were bringing in nesting material. I had wished I brought my camera. The above was with my phone.

A few days later I was out running errands and stopped by the big Kapok Tree nearby. It was just past peak blooming and the ground was covered with blooms. I grabbed a few from the ground to take back home. The old historic building that started as a restaurant now houses a music store. The music store is closing and the locals hope the building doesn’t get torn down and replaced with condos (which seems to be happening everywhere around here).

A 3 stop morning

On April 20, 2024April 17, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I was on my way to Crescent Lake Park but stopped at nearby North Shore Park first to get a glimpse of the sun coming up over the bay. It was a beautiful morning in late January but also chilly and there wasn’t any birds on the beach.

I saw the white pelicans right when I got to Crescent Lake Park. Only about half of them were still there and I was thinking they would be gone before I made it back down here again. Luckily a few of them were right at the edge and I was able to see them close up.

I stopped at the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way home. It was cloudy when I first got there and I saw the above common loon far out in the bay. A little later when the sun came back out I was hoping to get a better shot of him but I couldn’t find him again.

Brown pelicans were diving for fish and the laughing gulls were right on them when they came up with a mouthful of fish hoping to steal some of the fish.

Later when I was editing the pictures I realized one of the pelicans had a big scrape on his head. I went back out there the next morning but didn’t see him. He might have hit it on the pier if he was diving too close. I heard that happens to them at the Sunshine Skyway fishing pier.

Zooming in on Tampa across the bay.

I saw these horned grebes from far away and waited forever for them to get closer. They seemed to be heading towards the pier as they went under to get the fish. The few times I had seen them before this winter at the pier they were like little pin dots far out in the middle of the bay so I was glad they were getting closer. I haven’t seen them again since this visit.

Fish for breakfast?

On March 7, 2024February 29, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

The weather at the end of November and into December can go either way. It can be still warm and icky or turn cold and sunny. Luckily it was the 2nd one this year. Although I was still in shorts at the end of November it was at least cool and 72 degrees. The sun had already come up when I started my walk on the Dunedin causeway.

I noticed a lot of young herring gulls on the beach side of the causeway and ran back to my car and got my camera. Herring gulls are snowbirds and only stay here during the winter. One had found a piece of fish floating along the shoreline. He played with it for a while and then dropped it and walked off.

A crow picked it up and then the herring gull was interested in it again.

Several more herring gulls showed up and they kept picking at it and dropping it.

A sanderling had found another fish part as well. He pecked at it for a few minutes and left it behind.

A pelican taking a break on the buoy marker.

It was too nice to go home so I stopped by the Dunedin marina for a quick walk.

Ending the year and starting another with injured birds

On February 17, 2024February 16, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Look at that beautiful face! This poor barred owl had been shot but was making a quick recovery. In late October I picked him up at the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay in Brandon and drove him down to a rehabber in St. Pete. Soon he will be ready to fly free.

A vulture also made the trip. Penny was pulling him out of the back of my car and checking him over. He was found sick and should be released soon.

So many vultures were either sick or getting hit by cars. They feed in the roads eating roadkill so they are sometimes risking their lives for a meal. No one slows down anymore. I made several trips to pick up injured turkey vultures to take to rehabbers in early November.

The above river cooter had been hit by a car Thanksgiving week. A good samaritan picked her up and brought her to the Raptor Center. Overnight she laid an egg. The next morning I drove the cooter and her egg to the Swamp Girl Adventures near Orlando.

This poor red shoulder hawk had an injured eye. Someone found him in their yard and brought him into an emergency vet who called the Raptor Center. I picked him up right away and drove him to Penny in south St. Pete.

The week of Christmas this common loon was found on the ground in the middle of Florida, no where near water. Loons winter here in Florida but in water. I see them often in the gulf or bay on my walks. Loons don’t have the ability to take off from land so if they are on land they are stranded for some reason. He might have gotten blown off course by a bad storm that had recently hit Florida. I drove him from the Raptor Center to Seaside Seabird Sanctuary on Indian Shore beach. They are loon experts and will hopefully have him swimming in the gulf in no time.

I had some time before heading home so I did a quick walk around the seabird sanctuary and followed the above pelican out to the beach. The sanctuary gets a lot of wild birds hanging around looking for a free handout. It was a beautiful but cold windy morning so I got a very rare shot of an empty stretch of beach.

I made a quick trip back to Penny, the rehabber, on Christmas eve with another injured vulture.

The day after New Year I drove a great horned owl that was about to be released down to Penny’s as well as a tiny bat that was found on the ground in someone’s yard. He was named Pop Tart because he was brought in to the Raptor Center in a Pop Tart box. Bats can’t take off from the ground. They need to drop down a few feet to get lift before taking off so if a bat is on the ground it’s probably sick. They eat their weight in mosquitos every night so they are very beneficial to have around. Many people put up bat boxes in their neighborhoods to keep the insect population down. We have a box nearby and I love going out to get the mail right before dark and seeing they flying around.