A walk on the causeway

On June 4, 2025July 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography9 Comments

It was pretty cloudy when I first got out to the end of the causeway at Fred Howard Park in early March. It was supposed to be a sunny morning. The sun was just coming up behind the clouds and it looked like the cormorants were just waking up. I’m thinking they must sleep here on the backside of the little beach because it’s closed at night so they probably don’t get bothered.

The clouds were starting to part as I walked the causeway.

A lone great blue heron was standing on the rail. He let me get pretty close before taking off when more people stopped to look. I took the above with my phone.

A little later I saw a lot of cormorants hanging out on the rocks on the jetty. They must move to the jetty as more people show up on the beach.

A view of the island beach area from half way down the causeway.

Why did the ruddy turnstone cross the road??!??

A great egret was keeping an eye on the nearby fisherman, hoping to steal his bait.

Water toys lined up waiting for the tourists. It was going to warm up later in the afternoon so I’m sure many would get used.

A little blue heron was dancing for his fish.

The sun was fully out by the time I got back to my car.

This is the best time to be out on the beach, before 9am in March.

There were a few birds out on the beach before I left. Royal terns looked small standing around that juvenile herring gull in the middle. Skimmers were staying close to the water.

Critters at the marina

On November 25, 2024November 25, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

In early September I was out for an early walk at the Dunedin marina.

I was standing on the pier and a cormorant popped up right below me.

As I walked around the marina I noticed a big blob in the water in front of the boats on the right. Several manatees were hanging out in between the docks. At first they were in the middle of the channel (to the right of the yellow arrow).

I stood there for a while keeping my eye out for them. A few minutes later they came a little closer to the sea wall. There were at least 2 of them.

Then they came right up to the sea wall. I could see their snouts coming up for air in between the shadows of the railing and at one point one of them showed his big backside.

This green heron was not afraid of my shadow.

An anhinga sits on a boat lift crane.

I always see little ruddy turnstones walking around the rocks in front of the marina. They pick the bugs out of the oyster shells attached to the rocks.

Even though the clouds were moving in a boat heads out for an afternoon cruise.

A rainbow and shorebirds on my walk

On October 7, 2024September 28, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was late July and the summer rains were here. It usually rained late in the day or in this case a quick early morning shower came through. I went out for a walk at the Dunedin causeway before 8am and it was sunny at my house but when I got to the causeway I could see rain out in the gulf. I noticed a faint rainbow and pulled over and snapped the above thinking it would be gone when I got to the other end.

Rain clouds were still moving by when I got to the end of the causeway.

That rainbow stayed through my entire walk. The clouds were moving farther north but the rainbow still stayed as I walked over the bridge and back.

There were only a few puffy clouds as I looked towards land. What a beautiful morning out (with the exception of the 95% humidity)!

I had parked on the north side of the causeway where there is no beach, only grass bed and rocks. I noticed a lot of shorebirds along the water so I pulled out my camera and started walking along the edge. The area was full of dowitchers.

A sanderling hanging out with a bunch of dowitchers.

A lone least sandpiper (in the middle) mixed in.

There were also the usual ruddy turnstones. This one was in his summer breeding feathers (brown and black on the right).

A new duck and the usual

On July 20, 2024July 12, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

It was early May and I was heading back to Fort Desoto Park. The sun was just coming up as I crossed the Bayside Bridge before heading into downtown St. Pete.

Right before the park there is a big pond that sits on the road with houses on the back side. Frigatebirds spend summers here and sleep on the big mangrove islands behind these houses. You can’t see where they sleep from the road. You would need a kayak and be out on the water before daylight to see them leaving their roost. But, if you catch the timing right you can see them flying over the big pond early in the morning getting a drink of water before cruising around for the day. It’s rare to see them upclose so I pulled over and got out the car and spend a few minutes watching them swoop down to the pond. They didn’t stay long and headed out over the bay.

As I watched them soaring I realized the moon was still up.

There wasn’t a lot of migrating birds on the trail so I went to the fishing pier to see if there was anything interesting. I was just expecting a few dolphins but I got a lifer instead. There was a surf scoter spotted a few months back in south St. Pete along the bay but you needed a scope to see it and it was not there all of the time so I didn’t even try to find it. There was one spotted in Safety Harbor a few years back but I couldn’t find it after several trips. On this morning there was a female one floating right along the pier. It wasn’t hanging around but was swimming by and I was able to snap some shots of it as it made it’s way past the pier and around the island.

A ruddy turnstone was starting to get his pretty breeding feathers in.

There were a few dolphins around the pier as usual.

Someone had caught a tiny shark.

Always looking for something else

On February 1, 2024January 20, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

The sun was coming up over the north beach at Fort Desoto on the morning I was there looking for white pelicans. I was parked across the water close to where the sun was coming up and had walked around the lagoon to get out to the north end of Outback Key. You have to go wading to get across the the key. Some days it’s ankle deep and some days in knee deep.

I usually have something specific I’m looking for here but I can always find a ton of other things as well. I was heading back from spotting the few white pelicans and ran into a lone whimbrel walking around in the grass on the beach.

The great blue heron was trying to steal this guys bait fish and he chased him off with a fish in his hand. Don’t drop that fish!

A typical scene on the beach. Two great egrets hanging out in the dunes.

Another great blue heron flies by.

A least sandpiper was taking a bath.

Another one (on the far right) was feeding with the sanderlings.

A lesser yellowlegs couple.

A lone marbled godwit digging in the sand.

The beach was covered with jellyfish.

On the pier, a ruddy turnstone was picking at a piece of fish.

Rush hour traffic on the water.

Another avocet sighting

On January 4, 2024December 24, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

In early October I heard there was a juvenile flamingo at Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs. It was late afternoon and I decided not to wait until the next morning to head to the park so I packed up and drove over even though it looked like it was going to rain.

On the back side of the little beach there were tons of shorebirds. As I was looking for the flamingo (which I didn’t find) I saw 2 avocets standing alone near the shorebirds. Even though I had just seen 19 of them at Fort Desoto a few weeks before I was still excited to see these 2. They stuck pretty close together.

It was getting late in the day and the laughing gulls were starting their bedtime baths.

A few of the other shorebirds nearby included a Forster’s tern, a ruddy turnstone and a dowitcher.

A great blue heron flies by.

I was hoping the sun would peak out when it got late but it didn’t look like that was going to happen so I left. I did manage to see that juvenile flamingo on another trip so more on that later.

Cloudy with a chance of rain

On August 20, 2023April 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I made another trip to Fort Desoto Park in late April. I was hoping there would still be some migrating birds stopping by. There was a small chance of rain even though it looked like it would pour at any time.

The only migrating bird I found was a Cape May warbler. There were several of these cuties in the woods near the ranger’s house.

Heading to the gulf fishing pier.

The usual birds were at the fishing pier including a ruddy turnstone showing me his missing foot and great egrets.

The laughing gulls were putting on a show on top of the shelter on the pier.

I thought maybe the sun would break through but it stayed cloudy.

Pelicans hanging out on the jetti next to the pier.

A quick shot of a red breasted merganser that was still there. They spend the winter here but usually leave in March.

It was still a nice morning out even though it wasn’t very birdy or sunny.

Breakfast on the causeway

On April 15, 2023April 9, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

So many birds on the Dunedin causeway when I went for a drive on a cold early morning in late February. At first it looked like they were all dowitchers but I found a few other birds mixed in. They were feeding along the rack line on the north side of the causeway were its rocky along the water.

A few tiny sanderlings were mixed in with the dowitchers.

You can always find a willet here.

There were dunlins mixed in with the crowd. They looked drab here in their winter colors without the brown and black feathers they have during the summer.

Someone walked by and spooked them (not many people walk this side of the causeway). I was taking most of these from my car.

They were all feeding together in large groups. The dowitchers seem to favor the newer greener seaweed. The dunlins were feeding in the older brown seaweed.

Several times they would all take off and circle back to the same spot. There were also a few ruddy turnstones in the mix with those orange legs.

A lone willet flies along the causeway.

Sleeping shorebirds

On January 28, 2023January 22, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

It was a quiet morning on the Dunedin causeway and I noticed a lot of sleeping shorebirds. After my walk I got my camera out of my car and started snapping the shorebirds. I found a lone black bellied plover mixed in with a lot of dowitchers. When I cropped this up I noticed the little dunlin on the right.

I usually only see large flocks of laughing gulls here so it was great to see all of the dowitchers sleeping together. Some were trying to nap and some were feeding. There were a few dunlins and ruddy turnstones mixed in as well.

My camera could only catch a small portion of them at a time.

Some were flying in and out of the sleeping group.

A little farther down the beach I found a lone skimmer.

A pelican cruises right above the water.

Finally out with my camera

On January 7, 2023December 29, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

In late November I was finally out with my camera since having my shoulder surgery in early October, I could still only pick up 3lbs so I had my older smaller camera on my lightest lens. All together they were at 3.5 lbs so I was cheating a little but kept the camera in my left hand for most of the time. It felt good to be out walking around with it but I had an old 300mm lens and didn’t have much reach. I headed to the Dunedin marina for a long walk and then pulled the camera out of the car and walked around by the boats for a short while.

There were a few shorebirds at the tiny beach in front of the marina. Willets and ruddy turnstones are always there.

Something spooked these semi-palmated plovers several times.

One of the resident osprey sitting on a sailboat mast. They have a nest right in the parking lot here so I’m looking forward to keeping tabs on the babies this year.

An anhinga resting on the old abandoned boat.

A phone shot, this old sailboat got wedge up against the channel marker during Hurricane Nicole in early November and has been stuck there ever since. It’s a great place for the birds to rest.

A great egret posing nicely.

Pelicans around the marina.

A manatee was right up against the sea wall. This was taken with my phone. The shadows of the railing were a little tough though.

I was on the way home and stopped at a red light when I saw a ton of white pelicans flying high coming towards me. I pulled over into the shopping center and was able to snap the above. This was only a small portion of them. There were at least 4 more of these cruising around the area. It was amazing to watch them swooping around and cruising.