Looking for shells

On May 26, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Above is the proper technique for shell hunting. While my sister and her husband were in town we headed out early for a walk at Honeymoon Island to look for shells.

I had not been out on this beach since last summer and it was a beautiful cool morning. The north beach area had just opened back up the week before after being closed for 5 months due to the hurricanes from last fall.

The mangrove bushes on the beach had been stripped and there was a lot of big dead wood pieces.

Someone had started a shell tree.

A big jellyfish in the shallow part.

We made it almost to the north end before heading back. It was quiet this weekday morning and little chilly so there wasn’t a lot of people out. I’m sure the beach looks much different today. Since it’s Memorial Day there’s a packed crowd and we usually stay away from the beaches on summer holidays.

Royal terns and laughing gulls were trying to stay out of the wind.

White pelicans flying over.

A quick video of the white pelicans cruising high over our heads.

We worked up an appetite and had lunch at a nearby local seafood place before heading home to rest up for our big afternoon on the ferry (more to come). My sister got a big bag of shells and managed to fit it into her carry-on bag to take home.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

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.

Make room for me!

On November 23, 2024November 22, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

One of my favorite spots, the Safety Harbor fishing pier, was closed after Hurricane Debby did damage to the pier. The birds had taken advantage of the closure to turn the pier into their new home, somewhere they can hang out between feedings and not be disturbed. I had heard there were hundreds of birds on the pier so I headed there one morning with my camera. I quickly realized this needed to be an afternoon shoot. I had forgotten I would be shooting directly into the sun (even though it was mostly cloudy this morning). As I stood there for a few minutes I noticed the birds would all take off at the same time, leaving the pier in an orderly fashion.

Flying in front of the bridge.

The light was so bad in the morning so I came back later that afternoon. The birds were still there and even more showed up. I realized that a lot of the birds were black terns.

Looking from the side I could see tons of black terns, many royal terns and a few laughing gulls mixed in.

The black terns were in all stages of molting. Some were almost all black and some had just a little black on their heads. They are only all black during breeding season. They are known as “marsh terns” since they breed in freshwater marshes in the most northern part of the USA and Canada. They only stop over here for a short time during migration on their way back and forth from the north to central America. I’ve seen a few at a time over the years and this was the most I’ve seen at one place.

“Make room”. They seemed to yell when one was trying to find room to land.

Farther down near the end of the dock I could see a lot of royal terns (with the orange beaks). There were a few laughing gulls and they are much bigger than the black terns. I could also see a few sandwich terns (with a tiny bit of yellow on the tip of their beaks).

Lift off across the pier.

They would all circle around and land back on the pier.

Zooming in I could Tampa across the bay.

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.

Lots of shorebirds

On January 13, 2024January 1, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

While I was at Fred Howard Park waiting for the flamingo to wake up from his nap I noticed a lot of shorebirds on the back side of the little beach. I saw several black bellied plovers and one was walking towards me with a snack.

There were a lot of black skimmers and many of them were still juveniles, born this past summer. They don’t have the full black head yet.

This juvenile royal tern was still screaming for Mom to bring him some food. This was a common sight on the beaches in the early fall.

The royal terns were taking a bath.

There were a lot of dowitchers. They were poking around in the muck and weeds.

A marbled godwit looking for food.

A “gulp” of cormorants swimming close to the shore.

A cormorant came up out of the water with a big fish and the laughing gulls were attacking him. The cormorant dropped the fish but I don’t think the gulls got it.

Ever once in a while the skimmers would flush and take flight.

It was a nice non-sunny morning out. This was actually a chilly morning for early October. I think it was in the high 50’s when I got out to the park.

The usual things at Fort Desoto

On December 28, 2023December 27, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

In mid-October I headed back down to Fort Desoto Park. After a short walk at the north beach and seeing the usual shorebirds there I headed over to the fishing pier. I found the oystercatcher couple that usually hangs out on the little beach area next to the pier. One of them had found a tasty meal.

The couple was busy feeding and seemed to have a lot of success.

A little sanderling looking around in the slick rocks.

This snowy egret was hanging off one of the big rocks and was trying to snag some bait fish as the water brought the fish closer in the waves. He wasn’t having much success.

Another one was posing for me on the pier.

A great blue heron strutting around.

A royal tern with a snack and an osprey fly overhead.

A manatee swam under the pier. It was so close I took the above with my phone.

Looking over at the lighthouse on Egmont Key.

Rush hour traffic on the water.

Some shots with my phone of sunrise when I first got to the park.

Avocets on the beach

On December 16, 2023December 5, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I was out at Fort Desoto Park in September looking for flamingos and found a few other things. I rarely go to the park in the afternoon on a weekend but I had heard there was a flamingo close by in the lagoon so I headed down. You can see all of the boats in the lagoon. There were tons of shorebirds on a spit nearby and I was looking around and was surprised to find the below. Avocets.

I’ve never seen more than 3 here at a time and even one is rare. There were 19 standing right in front of me. A few were still in their browner breeding feathers. After snapping a few hundred pictures of the flamingo I started watching them.

This might be my favorite shorebird. Maybe it’s because we rarely see them here or maybe it’s those beautiful blue legs and upturned beak.

They stayed pretty close together and only moved around when another bigger bird got close (like that juvenile reddish egret). I heard they were not seen the next morning so I was so glad I came down that afternoon.

Marbled godwits are common here during migration.

The terns were taking a late bath.

Watching a snowy egret get a snack.

Another nice surprise was seeing the lesser black backed gull nearby. They are not common here although I have seen a few in the Tampa bay area before.

A royal tern flies by with a snack.

Blast off across the lagoon. Something spooked the terns and they all took off, flew around in a circle and came back.

A hot morning walk with the usual critters

On October 30, 2023April 9, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

All of the usual big birds were at Chesnut Park for my morning walk in late June (anhinga, yellow crowned night heron, limpkin).

The wood duck babies were almost fully grown.

Birds were flying overhead (royal tern, osprey).

Things were blooming in the swamp.

Deer and bunnies were easy to spot.

I don’t often see barred owls here but this one was very visible, taking a nap along the boardwalk.

A cardinal was eating the seed that someone had left on the boardwalk.

Sleepy birds on the beach

On October 10, 2022October 10, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I was out at Fort Desoto in late August and started the long hike to the north tip where most of the shorebirds hang out. The lagoon beach area was full of little birds sleeping including red knots.

They were all taking a morning nap.

I passed a big flock of semipalmated plovers hanging out together on the beach with a few sanderlings mixed in.

They look so cute when they are sleeping.

Marbled godwits have been common along the beach here.

A royal tern flying by with a snack.

I had waded out waist deep in the water to get far enough away to shoot the birds on the beach with the sun at least to the side. It was a little bit cooler doing this and made me realize it was beautiful being out past the sea oats.

Big boats cruising past the pier.

Out on the beach

On August 30, 2022August 24, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Out on the beach while watching the black skimmers feeding their babies I caught an osprey flying by with what I thought was some nesting material. Since it’s late for nesting, I think there’s a small fish in there and he grabbed seaweed with his fish, a nice little salad to go with his sushi.

Other than royal terns bathing, it was a quiet morning.

I stopped by the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary to see if there were any herons or egrets still nesting in the mangrove trees. I found a very young black capped night heron walking around under his nest.