Finally out on my favorite beach again

On May 14, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights9 Comments

It felt really good to be out on this beach in mid-February. My last visit to Fort Desoto Park was in June. I didn’t make it down here in the summer and then the hurricanes hit in September and October. The park had a lot of damage and was closed for several months. They opened back up in stages and the north beach area did not open until early February. To the naked eye it looked the same but there were small changes. The park rangers sifted through the sand on the main beach areas to clear all of the debris that had washed up on the beaches here. I was out at the beach just after the sun came up (I stopped at East Beach to get sunrise shots but more on those later).

It was low tide and I walked up to the end of Outback Key.

The sun coming up over seashells.

The back side of the lagoon had a lot of big clam shells that had washed up with the tide. The shells were empty and most were covered in barnacles. Wilson’s plovers were hiding among them. It’s a good place for them to nap because people wouldn’t be walking through those shells and stepping on them.

A piping plover walks by me with his orange legs.

All of the usual birds were on the beach including great blue herons, reddish egrets and a wintering ring-billed gull.

Almost to the northern end of the key. It was going to be a long walk back.

This guy got stranded in the low tide. It was going to be a while before that boat was getting out of that spot. The shorebirds were keeping him company.

I noticed that the grassy areas at the north tip were gone and found out that they didn’t wash away. They were covered with sand. In certain areas you could see how much more sand had stuck on the beach during the storms.

Dolphins in the fog

On May 7, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals7 Comments

I love foggy walks in the winter on the Dunedin causeway. In early February I thought the sun was going to break through when I started my walk.

The sun went back into hiding as I walked over to the south side of the causeway.

I was taking pictures of the dowitchers as they fed on the shoreline and I saw the dolphins coming up for air a little farther out.

Even through the fog I could see them. There wasn’t a ripple in the water.

I stood there for a while taking videos, hoping they would come even closer but they stayed pretty far out. It was low tide so they probably couldn’t get much closer to the shoreline.

The egrets were creeping along the shallow edge looking for food.

One last look at the dolphins before finishing my walk. They were heading towards the pass and out into the gulf at this point.

Walking over the bridge in the fog.

A ring billed gull taking a break.

Time to go home.

Watching the rain coming at me

On March 10, 2025April 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

It was a yucky day on Black Friday of Thanksgiving weekend. I usually avoid shopping areas on this day and decided since it wasn’t nice outside I would head to a small beach in between Tampa and St. Pete. As soon as I got there I could see skimmers (in the first shot) and oystercatchers (in the 2nd shot) cruising by.

The sandbar was visible since it was low tide and I could barely make out the pelicans, gulls and terns enjoying the quiet over there.

A Forster’s tern was taking a bath.

The little beach was full of royal terns with a few laughing gulls and other terns.

A cute Wilson’s plover has a snack.

Ring billed gulls only spend the winters here and I’ve seen just a few at every beach.

I was actually at the beach to look for this guy. The saltmarsh sparrow was a lifer for me. This was the first time I had heard of one being in the area but there had been a few coming through years earlier. He had been spotted a few days earlier and was still there on that rainy morning. They hide out in marsh areas with high vegetation and I waited a while before seeing him pop out for a few minutes.

I could see the rain moving across the bay and heading for me. On a sunny day this little beach off Gandy bridge would be packed and would have made the sparrow harder to find since he would have been hiding farther away in the bushes.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Early morning with the shorebirds

On August 31, 2024August 20, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

The view walking to the north tip of the beach at Fort Desoto Park. There’s a lagoon on the right and the gulf is far to the left.

Black skimmers were skimming for breakfast along the gulf.

There were rare red knots out on the beach. We only see them briefly when they are making their migration trip from the artic to the southern tip of South America.

A ring billed gull strutting along the beach.

Lots of shorebirds sleeping. These are willets and dowitchers.

I don’t often see dunlins in their breeding feathers. I seem them mostly in the winter when they are a drab creme color. There were a few in their brown and black feathers.

Nicknamed “mermaid necklaces” the above is an egg casing for whelk shells. The female created this casing as she lays her eggs in it. The eggs hatch and turn into shells and the casing dries up and ends up on beaches during storms.

Bonnie was standing out in the middle of the lagoon and the water only came up to her knees. It’s usually pretty shallow here. We were out trying to get pictures of the reddish egret that was feeding in the lagoon. I’m always a little nervous getting that deep in the water with my camera. One bad step in a hole and I could go down with my camera. I think I was only ankle deep when I shot this.

Fun things in Safety Harbor

On April 29, 2024May 12, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

It was a beautiful cool morning in February when I headed out to Folly Farm in Safety Harbor. I didn’t think there would be a lot of birds there but I can usually count on seeing little flying critters.

There was a red shoulder hawk sitting right out in the open in the middle of the butterfly garden. He was all fluffed up and looked a little chilly. A few minutes later I saw him fly over to a palm tree next to the nature center.

I could see a nest and another hawk sitting in the nest.

The other hawk kept flying back and forth with sticks, bringing them to the nest. He found a big one on the roof of the nature center and it took him a while to figure out how to fly it over to the nest. He first tried to pick it up with his beak but he couldn’t balance it so eventually he realized he could take it over in his talons.

After a bunch of trips with nesting material he took a nap in the top of the palm tree.

On my way home I stopped at the fishing pier in Safety Harbor for a walk.

There was a lone ring billed gull down in the muck under the pier.

The fountain in front of the marina.

The pink trumpet tree on Main Street was in full bloom.

A stop at Swan Lake on the way home

On April 27, 2024April 16, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

While my sisters were visiting in late February we drove over to Disney Spring early for some shopping (mostly looking though and getting a good walk in) and lunch. We decided to break up our 2 hour drive home by stopping at Lake Morton (aka Swan Lake) in Lakeland and get out to look around. There were only 2 baby swans from a black swan couple but there were a lot of nests.

Redheads and ring neck ducks are easy to find in the winter. There were several that were swimming close to the edge of the lake.

A young ring billed gull sits on top of one of the swan food feeders that sit on the edge of the lake. He looked pretty with his matching pink feet and beak.

The usual skittish wood ducks were coming close to the edge of the lake as well. One walked right up on the grass in front of me.

Balance act.

The small pod of white pelicans were still there, napping and preening on the brick wall.

The pink trumpet tree was in full bloom.

Someone was having fun in the blasting wind.

On April 15, 2024May 12, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

It was really cold in early February. I was headed to Fred Howard Park for a cold walk and didn’t think I would see many birds but I threw my camera in the back anyway. I saw a “gulp” of cormorants out on the rocks along the causeway and after my walk I stopped on the way out to shoot them all resting. The beautiful ring billed gull was a bonus.

Cormorants were flying back and forth and another ring billed gull flew in.

My walk started out on the tiny beach at the park. I walked the little parking lot loop and then started out for the long causeway.

I was on my way back to the beach end when I saw a lone kiteboarder in the water. It was really windy so he had better know what he was doing. I could barely stand up as I walked into the wind back to my car.

He was getting some air.

A short video of him flying through the air right by me (maybe he was showing off?). He makes it look so easy. I took this and the above with my phone.

I made a quick stop at nearby Sunset Beach. I think this is the smallest beach in the Tampa Bay area. This is the entire beach. It was too windy to look for birds so I headed home.

Three stops before my appointment.

On March 20, 2023March 9, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights3 Comments

I was heading down to St. Pete and stopped by Crescent Lake Park to see if there were any white pelicans still hanging around. They usually spend a few weeks here in the winter but it’s hit or miss whether they are here or floating in the nearby bay. When I first got out of the car I noticed a few scattered around the lake.

Then I noticed more hanging out in the shade under the big banyan tree. They were all busy preening so they must have just finished a morning swim.

I heard something over my head and looked up and saw this starling sitting in a hole. He might have been checking out the hole for future nesting spots.

This ring billed gull was swimming in the shade near the white pelicans. His red accents really popped in the shade.

After snapping the white pelicans I headed down toward North Shore Park and saw this big tree blooming so I had to pull over and take a shot. This was in mid-February and I had missed it’s full peak but it was still pretty.

All was quiet on the little beach on the bay.

One more stop just south of the St. Pete pier before heading to my chiropractor who’s office is nearby. It was a beautiful cool morning out and was worth leaving an hour early.

The sun through palm trees

On January 19, 2023January 18, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights7 Comments

After I caught the sun rising at the Safety Harbor fishing pier I headed down to North Shore Park in St. Pete. The sun was up about half way by this time but still made for some pretty shots. This little beach sits on the bay side of St. Pete and the sand isn’t very nice so there usually isn’t too many people on it in the morning.

The water looked very inviting with the sun beaming down on it but it was a little chilly this morning.

I think this is a Hong Kong orchid tree. The the park was full of them blooming in early December.

I was hoping to find something different in the way of birds out here, sometimes a surprise might pop up but it was quiet. Only the usuals. A ring billed gull scratching an itch and a pelican lands in front of me. The little beach was full of laughing gulls but not much else.

As I was standing on the beach watching the birds this tiny shark swam right up near the sand.

The big orange ball (not the kind you eat)

On January 12, 2023January 4, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights6 Comments

Most mornings I’m up well before the sun comes up but it’s not often I am out of the house before then. Brett was leaving for work extra early one morning in early December so I decided to head out with my camera with the short lens on it and my phone. When I got to the Safety Harbor fishing pier there was color but the ball hadn’t come up yet.

Large flocks of birds were flying across the bay. I think most of them were ibis.

Finally, that orange ball started to show up. I was lucky it wasn’t foggy this day.

It’s a beautiful sight and there were a lot of people there to see it. Most of the photographers there hang back in the parking lot to get the shots with the pier in it instead of standing on the end of the pier. I was running back and forth trying to get all of the shots in.

Standing at the end of the pier I took these with my camera. You can barely see the skyline of downtown Tampa across the bay.

There’s something magical about standing here early in the morning waiting for the sun to come up. You’re not alone but everyone is quiet, almost whispering as if we were in a library. The joggers and dog walkers take a few minutes to stop and look. When I lived in Tampa and was working in the office I used to see the sun coming up in my rear view mirror on the way to work or through the window at the office. For now I can take a deep breath and enjoy the view.