A quiet morning out.

On June 6, 2022May 24, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

It was a gorgeous morning to be out on the beach in early April.

Far out in the water I could see a willet with a snack.

Terns were cruising by.

Laughing gulls were pairing up.

The rare kittiwake was still on the pier, a week later than when we first found him.

I still kept seeing the same warblers on the trails, a hooded and a black and white. I kept telling myself it was still early for migration here.

After a quiet morning at Fort Desoto Park I headed home but not before stopping by Possum Branch Preserve for a quick walk. Two red shoulder hawks were sitting on the big dead snag outside of the preserve. I guess the hawks are pairing up as well.

A green heron trying to hide in the marsh.

It was pretty quiet at this park as well. I started taking pictures of butterflies since they are starting to be more plentiful. At least I got a good walk in before heading home for lunch.

Stops along the beach.

On March 19, 2022March 7, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I was meeting a friend for lunch on the beach in January and threw my camera in the car to make a few stops on the way home. Since I was close by, my first stop was at the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary. It’s now run by a group of volunteers and they rescue and rehabilitate injured birds.

The sanctuary is shaded by overgrown mangrove trees and wild birds nest high up in them this time of year. Great egrets were working on fixing up their nests.

I could just barely make out baby great blue herons through all of the sticks and leaves. This nest had 2 babies and they were already growing up.

One of the first baby night herons of the season. They usually nest a little later but these guys were already almost as big as their parents.

A pretty pelican face.

This sandhill crane is one of the residents. You can see he’s missing his bottom beak. He’s well fed here.

Much farther north on the water, I stopped back by Weaver Park again. I always see parakeets here. They aren’t hard to miss, screaming so loud all of the time. Looks like they’ll be nesting soon.

The pier was pretty quiet. Mostly terns and gulls. I was hoping to catch the opsrey diving for fish but there wasn’t any here this afternoon.

Road trip to Nature’s Coast

On December 17, 2020November 30, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

Early morning at Pine Island beach, north of Tarpon Springs and south of Cedar Key. I had not spent any time in this area and it’s a beautiful quiet area. At least it was in October.

I was hoping to find some new shorebirds here but it was the same old ones that I can find in my usual spots near home.

Fiddler crabs along the shoreline.

Just me and my shadow on the boardwalk, looking out on the gulf.

This is a small beach compared to beaches in the Tampa bay area. It’s a little off the beaten path so it might not get the crowds in the summer that we see on Clearwater beach or St. Pete beach. It was a beautiful morning and I was glad to be out of the house and out on the road.

The drive into the beach is a long 2 lane road with marsh on both sides. The first two shots were looking right and the bottom two were looking left as you drive in. This is why they call this area the “Nature coast”.

“Don’t let the sun go down on me”

On April 30, 2020April 18, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights3 Comments

Royal terns and willets on the sea wall across from the boat ramp at Davis Islands.

Pelicans and a great egret hanging around the island.

The view of Tampa across from the Davis Islands yacht basin right before sunset.

Watching the sun go down early in the quarantine in late March.

It was a quiet night. Most people were sitting in their cars watching the sun go down instead of getting out and walking around the small beach there. I kept saying I was going to get back over there but I just never did.

SkyWatch Friday

A new bird in late October

On December 9, 2019February 18, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I had heard he was there for a over a week before I made it down to Fort Desoto. I headed down to the park early one Saturday morning in late October thinking it would be a needle in the haystack story. As I drove into the park I saw several people with binoculars in a field near the boat ramp. After walking through ankle deep ant infested water (the field was flooded due to recent rains) I found the Vermilion Flycatcher. He was out in the open buzzing from tree to tree so it was pretty easy to spot that flash of red unless you weren’t paying attention and thought it was a cardinal. It was the first time I have heard of one being in the Tampa bay area so there were a lot of people coming through that morning looking for him. He’s a beautiful bird and totally worth enduring the over 50 ant bites.

Otherwise, there were just the usual migrating birds at the park. This female rose breasted grosbeak was very accommodating.

The white pelicans are back but they were across the lagoon. You can tell how much bigger they are than our resident brown pelicans.

Osprey have taken over the park. They are everywhere.

Shorebirds near the fishing pier.

TOTO is still hanging out at the park. He’s got a band on his legs with TOTO. I’ve been taking pictures of him for over 8 years. He’s always there with his girlfriend.

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Early May at Fort Desoto

On June 22, 2019June 24, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

High up in a tree, I watched this yellow warbler stuff himself with snacks.

There were still a few other birds in early May at Fort Desoto including the blackpoll warbler in the last picture.

Frigatebirds were flying high overhead.

At the east end of the park I could just barely make out Downtown St. Petersburg.

Birds at the fishing pier.

Recently I keep seeing parakeets popping out of trees.

The sand trails are covered with these grasshoppers.

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Honeymoon Island beach before the tourists get here.

On April 20, 2017April 20, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

After walking the nature trail at Honeymoon Island State Park, I headed over to the beach to see if there were any shorebirds hanging around.

The usual birds were there: marbled godwits, royal terns and dowitchers.

The waves were splashing over the jetties. It was fun to be out in one of the last cool windy days before the heat sets in (and the tourists).

SkyWatch Friday

A late February walk at Circle B Bar Reserve

On April 11, 2016April 12, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

Great blue herons were all over the park. Including several sitting on nests.

A green heron was stalking something.

A sparrow hiding in the bushes.

The only black bellied whistling ducks I saw. The park use to be full of them. You could hear their whistling all over the park. I’m not sure why there are only a few now.

The robins were scrounging on the ground for bugs.

A lost royal tern. He should be at the beach.

A wood stork showing off. He was actually moving his foot around on the ground to stir up the bugs, frogs or snakes to eat.

A limpkin taking a break.

I caught a blue gray gnatcatcher being still for just a second.

A red shoulder hawk up high.

A marsh rabbit on Marsh Rabbit Run trail.

A few things I saw on my walk at Circle B Bar Reserve.

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Napping and breakfast in the morning

On August 19, 2015August 9, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

It’s always sad to see a one footed bird. This laughing gull seems to be doing okay though.

Take a “tern”. Royal terns and a sandwich tern.

The always present oystercatcher.

Dowitchers and willets taking a morning nap.

A baby laughing gull screaming for his mom to bring food.

Breakfast time for dowitchers.

Keeping an eye on me.

A few birds on the beach in the middle of summer.

Looking for yet another yellow bird.

On February 3, 2014February 4, 2014 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography12 Comments

Are you a western tanager? No, just a yellow rumped warbler.

Of course, the western tanager would be much higher up in the trees and harder to spot. After two hours, she would not come down from the top of the trees.

This was the best that I got that morning. She’s now been there for a few weeks so I should go back and see if I can find her again.

Nice butt shot. There were at least 20 birders looking for this bird. After several hours she was spotted high up and stayed there. This is my western tanager.

After spotting the tanager in the trees by the parking lot, I headed over to the beach to see what I could find. I’m going with Forester’s tern on this one. He’s got the black “earmuffs” that a common wouldn’t have. Bill is slightly longer. Seagull Steve, let me know if I’m wrong on this. I followed your comparisons here.

Wilson’s plovers on the beach.

Are these semipalmated plovers? Those orange legs on the one in the back makes me think they are but they don’t have a lot of color in their face. Maybe the back one is a juvenile?

Stretching after a nap.

A royal tern staring at me.

Taking a bath in the salt water.

What’s this? This isn’t a tern or plover. There was a lone red breasted merganser walking up on the beach. Where were all of her friends? They usually aren’t alone. She preened for a few minutes.

And then took off down the beach.

Pelican flying by just as the sun was coming out.

It was a foggy morning at Fort De Soto in mid-January. I went down to the park looking for the western tanager. Anything else I found was going to be a bonus. Not much else at the park except the usual terns and pelicans. I did find the Franklin’s gull on this trip. The sun finally started coming out around lunch time. I was hungry so I headed for home.

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