Migration has started

On June 10, 2024July 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

Spring migration was just starting in early April (although a few birds have trickled through since mid-March) so I was up before sunrise and made it down to Fort Desoto just as the sun was coming up (the park doesn’t open until 7am so right now we can’t get in before that). I took this on the bridge before the park.

I went straight to East Beach since I heard there was some birds on the trails at that part of the park. Before heading down the trail I stopped on the beach to catch the sun coming up over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. I took all of these with my phone. I figured even if I didn’t see a lot of birds I at least saw an amazing sunrise.

A wood thrush was easy to find on the ground.

Black and white warblers were all over the park.

A rose breasted grosbeak was eating a berry but stayed pretty hidden.

There was a prothonotary warbler right on the trail and he was not shy. He popped out of the bushes and landed right in front of me and seemed to wait for me to take his picture.

My 2nd ever worm eating warbler (the first was in my backyard in 2022). He was a little shy and I waited a while for him to come out in the open.

A prairie warbler.

Hooded warblers were all over the park and it’s usual for them to be the first migrating birds we see here.

I got a brief glimpse of a Kentucky warbler. He was shy and we looked for him for a long time. He looks a lot like the hooded warbler but he has black under his eye instead of under his chin. His head has bumps on it as well so it looks like it’s textured.

I stopped at the gulf fishing pier before leaving and found these two female red breasted mergansers hanging out in front of the stones along the wall.

It’s always fun when spring migration is in full swing although a little exhausting. Getting up early and running around looking for new birds. No rest until mid-May. I always see lots of old birding friends and make some new ones during this time. People in the area thought this spring’s migration was a bit of a dud but I thought it great and saw 5 new birds. More on those later.

A morning walk at Fort Desoto Park

On May 20, 2024June 4, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

It was too early for Spring migration in mid-March but I wanted to take a walk out on the beach at Fort Desoto. I went straight out to the north beach area. I stopped half way and took the above. The first is looking back towards the parking lot and the second is looking north to the tip where I was headed.

There wasn’t a lot of shorebirds on the beach but I did see a few snowy plovers. These little shorebirds are state designated “Threatened”. This is the only place I’ve seen them and not very often although I’ve heard there are some on the beaches in Sarasota.

This little piping plover was across the lagoon and I didn’t notice his missing feet until I was editing the pictures and cropped this up.

Oystercatchers flying by.

After walking the beach I headed over to the east beach trail for a quick walk. No little birds but the nanday parakeets were acting their usual crazy selves. This couple kept getting interrupted but finally had a little alone time.

An osprey takes off and flies right by me.

I always stop at the long gulf pier before leaving and this time there were dolphins swimming close to the pier.

You can really see the scars on the above’s back and fin.

There were 2 female red breasted mergansers taking a bath right at the beginning of the pier. Not sure if it’s really a bath since they spend most of their time in water but they seemed to be cleaning up after a feeding.

Saturday morning at Fort Desoto

On June 3, 2021June 3, 2021 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

The red breasted mergansers were still swimming around the pier in early April at Fort Desoto Park.

I found the whimbrels again. This time they were hunting for food around the stone edges near the fort. The tide was low and they were picking off some type of black bug.