Under the bridge

On August 6, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I made another trip to Sand Key Park (next to Clearwater Beach) before the end of April hoping to see some new migrating birds. I could see downtown Clearwater across the water from the back of the park.

Before leaving I stopped under the bridge to Clearwater Beach to look for dolphins. This is a known spot for seeing them and while the water was beautiful and calm I didn’t see any this morning.

Looks like someone was getting a sailing lesson out on the intercoastal waterway.

I did find a lot of migrating birds but nothing new. There were several blackpoll warblers that weren’t shy.

A lone male redstart.

It’s always fun to see the juvenile male summer tanagers molting from their baby yellow feathers to their adult red feathers. I’ve only seen one with this mixed color once before. He was hopping all over the trees and busy feeding but not shy.

A few other warblers were a yellow warbler in the top shot and a female Cape May warbler in the bottom shot.

Lots of butterflies along the playground trail.

I saw a lot of this plant on the backside of the park and didn’t realize it was a castor oil plant. There’s a lot of it here.

I passed through Clearwater Beach on the way home. It looks like they were having some type of fair, like they need another reason to bring even more people to this crazy overcrowded, nowhere to park beach.

Flying across the water

On July 15, 2024September 1, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was the end of April and the end of spring migration. There would be a few stragglers coming through until mid-May but the majority of the birds had already come through. You would have to hunt pretty hard to find the late ones and it was already so hot. A lot of Cape May warblers were still around. I took so many pictures of these guys this spring since they were so plentiful and not shy.

I only saw one black throated blue warbler on this morning at Fort Desoto Park.

I saw several more blackpoll warblers. The top 2 are males and the bottom shot is a female.

A redstart was high up in the trees.

After walking the trails I headed out on the beach. I had not gotten to the park in time for sunrise this morning. The terns were still active flying around with fish.

The couple above was flirting and the male had brought the female a fish (their version of buying her dinner or in this case breakfast). She walked around him a few times with it and then gulped it down.

He was ready to mate but she was playing hard to get. They flew off so I’m not sure what happened.

It was windy this morning and before leaving I stopped at the east beach turnaround to watch the kiteboarders for a few minutes. It’s always fun to watch them flying across the water. They make it look so easy but it’s really hard to keep that kite up and stay on the water. I took the above with my camera and zoomed in.

I took these 2 with my phone so you can see how far away they are. A lot of them just getting started near the shore. It’s hard to get them all in one shot since they are all spread out across the water.

A busy fawn season

On October 1, 2022September 20, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals4 Comments

These must be the same deer that are being feed I was walking on the back trail at Chesnut Park and several deer walked right up to me I took the above with my phone.

I didn’t find the twins again but there were 2 Moms with one baby each.

Mom taking care of the baby.

I walked down one of the side trails and found this big guy resting.

I’m not sure if this was a Mom and grown baby or siblings but they were so cute preening each other.

Not a deer but a female redstart. I guess fall migration had started with a small trickle of birds coming through.

Adding two lifers to my list

On June 18, 2022May 13, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

Word gets around fast in the birding world when there’s a rare bird somewhere in the area. I had read on some bird sites Sunday night that there was a rare Kirtland’s warbler at Fort Desoto Park. It’s listed as one of the rarest warblers in the world. They winter in the Bahamas and spend summers in Michigan. I’ve never heard of one in Florida before. I got to the park just before 7:30 the next morning and there was already a small crowd staring at the bushes where he was seen the day before. No one had seen him yet. I was thinking this is probably going to be a needle in a haystack morning but then I saw Ed. Ed Rizer drove over from the Lakeland area and he is know for being able to find anything. I’m thinking if anyone can find this bird, Ed can. About 10 minutes later I looked around and Ed had disappeared. I’m thinking “He’s going to walk around and find that bird”. Not 5 minutes later I hear him yell “He’s over here”. The bird was in a different area but close by. Everyone ran over and we all started shooting. The bird was not skittish at all. Everyone stayed pretty far back (we all had our longest lenses with us). I spent about 15 minutes taken a ton of pictures of this bird. He stayed on the ground just outside of some bushes, feeding on bugs.

Later in the morning after walking around the park, I headed back to the area where the Kirtland’s was again. He had moved over to the mangrove bushes where we originally were looking. I left the crowds of people who had driven from all over Florida to see him.

There were a lot of other migrating birds but not a lot of variety. We found one rose breasted grossbeak. An ovenbird was on the trail and there were a lot of redstart sightings.

One bird I haven’t seen in several years was a black throated blue warbler.

There were a lot of Cape May warblers all over the park.

The 2nd bird I added to my list this morning was a black whiskered vireo. There was one seen several years ago here but I couldn’t find it. After looking for this guy all morning I was about to give up and leave and someone yelled out they found him. I snapped the above and headed home since it was way past lunch time.

This was a very productive morning in late April at the park. It still seems like there are less birds coming through every year.

A new bird at the turtle pond.

On June 23, 2020June 23, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I stopped by my new favorite turtle pond at McGough Nature Park in early May. I went there looking for birds but had to stop and watch the turtles napping for a few minutes.

I saw this hummingbird go by in a flash and landed on a branch right in front of me on the trail. She only stayed for a few seconds and then took off.

This black and white warbler was looking for bugs.

A redstart in the bushes.

A red eyed vireo high up in the tree.

My first yellow throated vireo. I watched him for a while as he picked up worms and caterpillars in the tree. This beautiful bird was having a feast. Fattening up before he heads north for the summer. I found him near the closed playground.

This park should be called “Turtle Park”.

On June 15, 2020June 15, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Different patterns on the mangrove leaves along the boardwalk.

I finally was able to see a few migrating birds coming through in late April. Since the best place to see spring migration was closed (Fort Desoto Park) here in the area, we were thinking we wouldn’t get to see any birds coming through. Since some of the smaller parks were still open I was able to see a few birds. They were very skittish and stayed hidden in the bushes. Above are a hooded warbler, a redstart and an ovenbird (or at least I think it’s an ovenbird. May be a thrush of some type?).

I had not been to McGough Nature Park in Largo in years. It’s a small park that sits on the intercoastal waterway. I had heard there were a few migrating birds there so I headed out not expecting much. I had forgotten that the park has this great turtle pond. There’s a small dock that goes out over the pond and benches all around it. Turtles were all along the bank and it was very peaceful watching them hang out.

My Saturday morning “just being outside” shot from the boardwalk.

Our World Tuesday Graphic

Bright colors on a Saturday morning.

On June 18, 2019June 18, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Summer Tanagers only come through the Tampa bay area twice a year during spring and fall migration. The only place I can usually find them during that time is in the woods at Fort Desoto. In mid-April the woods were full of them including young ones that were just starting to turn red and still had some of their yellow baby feathers.

Female summer tanagers are all yellow.

A few of the orange and black birds were there including the orchard oriole and the American redstart above.

The female orchard oriole is also all yellow.

A cute little wood pewee.

A Tennessee warbler.

Also flying in the mangroves.

Most of the birds on this particular Saturday morning were feeding in the mangrove bushes along the road. Huge crowds had gathered to see the birds and the people who were coming into the park to fish or hit the beach were slowing down trying to figure out what we were all staring at. People would stop in their cars and ask us what we were looking at. “Birds” was the answer. They looked at us like we were crazy. It was a fun morning to be crazy.

The end of spring migration.

On August 18, 2018July 30, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photographyLeave a comment

Cape May warblers above, a female and male.

A female Cape May on the fountain.

An immature male rose breasted grosbeak with mulberry juice on his face.

An ovenbird on the fountain.

A blackpoll warbler hanging around.

An indigo bunting.

Redstarts above.

Scarlet tanagers.

There were still a few interesting birds moving through Fort Desoto in early May, heading north for the summer. It feels like that was so long ago. I’m just finishing editing those pictures and soon the birds will be cruising through again, this time heading south for the winter. So many birds, so little time.

“Warbler Neck” part 2

On November 9, 2016November 3, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

All of the above look almost alike. There are a few differences in some of them. One has a black bill while the others have orange bills. I was told that morning at Fort Desoto by “bird experts” that these were flycatchers. They could be eastern woodpee or a least flycatcher. They all looked like eastern phoebes to me.

There were a few redstarts in the trees. I’m not sure why they call them redstarts. They don’t have any red in them, only yellow and orange.

I think this is a Tennessee warbler.

A new bird for me, a Swainson’s Thrush. He was high up in the trees and I had to brighten up this one.

This looks like a young mockingbird.

A usual sight during migration, a black and white warbler.

Next year I’m going to take the time to take notes on what these birds are. I heard several times different people calling birds different things. I usually come home and look everything up but they are all starting to look the same. Please correct me if any of these are wrong.

Going home with “warbler neck”

On November 2, 2016October 30, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Summer tanagers were posing for the crowd.

Black and white warbler with a bug.

Redstart hiding in the shadows.

Blue gray gnatcatchers eating bugs.

A rare yellow billed cuckoo was the star of the day. I had seen one once before at Circle B Bar Reserve but there were many birders there that had their first sighting of one. He was high up in the tree but everyone was able to get a good shot.

The one of many palm warblers that hang out here in the winter.

White eyed vireos will be common to spot this winter.

I was told the two above were Nashville warblers. Can anyone confirm?

A brief glimpse of a Tennessee warbler.

My first Philadelphia Vireo. He was hanging around the cuckoo.

“We got fall out!” was the term used on the bird forums. Fort Desoto Park was covered in birds that had stopped for a rest on their way south for the winter in early October. I got to the park around 8am and many people already looking up in the oak trees at the picnic area. I spent several hours taking tons of pictures and had “warbler neck” from staring straight up into the trees for so long. A nap after lunch got rid of that. It’s not often you get a day where you can stand under a tree and see so many different birds.