Fun artwork on my walk

On November 24, 2025November 14, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights2 Comments

The sun was up and I was out not so early in the morning for a walk around Safety Harbor in July.

I walked across the waterfront to see the status on the rebuilding of the fishing pier that was destroyed from all of the hurricanes last fall. They were just starting to pull up the remaining old poles from the water. The pier and marina parking lot were closed for a while as they rebuild the pier and the marina.

Color along the waterfront.

Artwork at the nearby Mullet Creek Park.

Artwork along the waterfront.

The sun through the palm trees.

Linking to Image-In-Ing.

Scrambled eggs for breakfast

On June 28, 2025June 13, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

The birds were enjoying the peace at the damaged pier in Safety Harbor in early April. I started my walk out here and then looped around by Main Street and back past the Safety Harbor Resort and Spa.

I couldn’t decide if it was going to be sunny or cloudy. It looked clear but looking towards Tampa I could see a haze hanging low near the skyline.

When I was almost back to my car I saw the above. A baby house sparrow sticking his head out of the front of the hotel overhang. I hurried back to my car to get my camera.

When I got back I noticed several adults had some yellow stuff in their beaks. I realized it was eggs. The outdoor breakfast restaurant was just off to the side and someone had left some eggs on a plate and the server had not come back to get the plates.

They were feeding the babies scrambled eggs. There were two families underneath the overhang and this one was more visible.

There were two on the left side and they were waiting for Dad to bring back more eggs.

Both parents were busy hauling eggs to the babies before the plate was taken away. What an easy meal.

One last shot before heading home.

Typical shots from winter morning walks

On April 23, 2025May 11, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights9 Comments

Shots from my morning walk at the Safety Harbor (now damaged) fishing pier in late January. I love mornings like these, cold and sunny. I think I had a light jacket on over my long sleeve t-shirt. The tide was crazy low which is usual in the winter. I was able to walk down into the exposed sand and under the pier (which disappeared during Hurricane Helene).

I made my walk along the water (from the walkway) before heading back to my car through Safety Harbor.

The tide had gotten even lower when I got back to my car. That little boat had to make sure it stayed close to the channel markers or it would get stranded on the sand.

Another walk a few days later and the sun had come up over the clouds. The tide wasn’t as low this morning.

The day before everything changed

On December 4, 2024January 21, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights6 Comments

Hurricane Helene was due to sneak by the Tampa Bay area with a direct hit much farther north on a Thursday night in late September (on my birthday). The area was expected to have rain, wind, record tides and flooding. I went out for a long walk the morning before. The morning was a little dreary which kept the heat down. The first thing I noticed when I got to the Dunedin marina was the flag. The usual flags were down and a single hurricane flag was flying. I don’t remember seeing this before.

It looked like any other rainy morning. Although people were still there pulling boats out of the marina and putting them on trailers to leave.

The water along the seawall was clear and I could see fish swimming around. I think these are tiny sheepshead fish with those stripes.

A great egret was still hanging around. I wonder if he knew what was coming.

Later that afternoon the clouds were getting crazy so I ran over to the Safety Harbor fishing pier area to see if I could catch some lighting.

The shade sails that cross the picnic area were already down and the tables were tied together.

These kiteboarders were enjoying the blasting wind. They were doing some great tricks and knew what they were doing. The wind was so strong it was no place for amateurs.

Six oystercatchers flew over my head and I was wishing I had my camera with me.

A sun dog halo was peaking through the palm trees.

Helene came through the next day with catastrophic flooding. Anyone near the coast, channel, inlet or river was flooded. You can read what I posted a few days after here. It’s now early December and a few of the parks near the coast are still closed including Fort Desoto Park. Many of the restaurants, shops and motels along the beach areas are still closed. Some are trying hard to renovate and get opened by spring break, some will not ever open again. Most of the homes that flooded are still waiting on permits, inspections, insurance money, workers, etc. It could be a year or two before most move back into their homes.

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.

Sunset and the moon

On November 13, 2024December 30, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights7 Comments

It was mid- August and I had heard that the fishing pier in Safety Harbor was closed 2 weeks before when Hurricane Debby skirted by us. The pier was old and was already scheduled to be replaced next year. On the surface it looked okay but it must have had a lot of damage underneath because when Hurricane Helene came through it wiped out the pier completely.

I had a quick walk around the park and was already missing the manatees that you could see when you walked out to the end of the pier. I’m sure they are still out there but it will be hard to see their snouts coming up for air from the park.

Later that afternoon I came back to the pier in hopes of getting some shots of the full blue moon coming up over the water. When I got to the pier I realized there were a lot of clouds along the horizon. It would be much later before the moon was visible above those clouds and it would be much higher at that point. Right before dark I gave up and was heading home.

Turning around to head back to my car I could see the sun setting behind the marina and the clouds moving in. It turned out to be a beautiful night and I was finally able to see the moon from my backyard.

Afternoon storm passing by

On November 6, 2024December 30, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights8 Comments

It was mid-July and we were starting to get regular afternoon storms. I went out for a late afternoon walk at the Safety Harbor fishing pier, hoping to see some lightning or a rainbow. I could see the rain moving across the northern part of the bay.

The sun was trying to peak out as I walked around the park next to the fishing pier.

There are lots of mangrove crabs along the boardwalk but they are usually skittish. This one let me take a picture with my phone.

A night heron blending in with the mangroves.

Color around the marina.

So much destruction and not even a direct hit.

On September 30, 2024November 14, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights13 Comments

I can’t believe I am posting this picture again. So soon after Hurricane Ian, Idalia and Debby. This is just devasting. The Tampa bay area got so much damage from Hurricane Helene this past week mostly coming from storm surge. Pinellas County has water on 3 sides (the gulf leading into the bay) and no house near the water was spared. So much flooding. The hurricane wasn’t even a direct hit but the storm surge was the highest on record.

Brett and I moved 3 years ago from a house on the water (in the bay) to farther inland. We were so blessed to only have tons of yard debris. Above is a 3rd of our debris pile in the driveway and more across the street. We are still cleaning up. We did not get any flooding in our neighborhood.

Over the weekend I was out running errands and stopped by my favorite walking places. The Dunedin marina was my first stop and the pier there was destroyed. The marina was blocked off so we couldn’t get close. It’s interesting the dolphin statue on top of the concrete base was still standing. The hotel next door was flooded and they were trying to get the sand out of the rooms and were pulling out carpet and furniture.

Lots of debris and damaged docks in the marina. Many of the boats were missing. Some got pulled out onto trailers the day before but some were found stranded farther down near Clearwater Beach.

The tall condo building next to the marina lost both of their docks.

My next stop was the Safety Harbor marina and fishing pier. They had minimal damage with only a small portion of the dock damaged.

The beloved fishing pier where the manatees hang out was gone. It had recently been closed due to minimal damage from Hurricane Debby in August.

The next morning I stopped by the Oldsmar pier, 10 minutes from my house. The pier was still there but was closed. It had a lot of missing planks and the end had come off. All of the houses in the neighborhoods nearby were flooded out.

This fun boat was a decoration in front of a seafood restaurant. The restaurant was badly damaged and I saw the boat much farther down the street.

The front yard the night after the hurricane.

All of this damage above is insignificant to what happened to the coastal areas. The beach areas have been closed for days but the videos and news coverage is heartbreaking. All of the beach areas, Davis Islands, Harbor Islands and neighborhoods along the bay were damaged. As you drive through neighborhoods all of the houses have furniture, rugs, carpet, cabinets, dry wall, etc piled high on the curbs.

Pictures of the beach from Bay News 9 here.

The Seaside Seabird Sanctuary is a wild bird rescue that is on the beach. They rescue and rehabilitate thousands of birds every year. Their facility took a big hit. I swiped the below shot from their facebook page. They could really use donations to rebuild and can be made here.

Sadly this storm did not end with us and continued to reek havoc north into North Carolina. Brett’s nephew and his girlfriend live in Ashville and we did not have contact with them until yesterday morning. They are safe but downtown Ashville has been wiped out. And, there’s another storm brewing in the gulf again.

Morning walks in early June

On August 12, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, flowers and plants3 Comments

My husband is now working part time from home and has more flexible hours so in early June he went with me on my morning walk around the Safety Harbor fishing pier. He hadn’t been to the pier in years so we started there before walking around the area. Since he’s not much of an early bird we didn’t get there as early as I usually do. We were lucky to catch manatees coming up for air.

A short video of them coming up for air. They were close to the pier and I was able to get them with my phone.

Looking up from the manatees, I saw a flock of pelicans go by.

Brett taking a few moments to take it all in on the mangrove boardwalk.

I was able to catch a mangrove crab on the boardwalk. These guys are usually skittish.

The next morning I went out a little early by myself for a walk at the Dunedin marina. Right when I got out of my car I saw a mallard couple swimming across the marina with some babies. They were moving quickly and went under the dock.

I had forgotten the night blooming cereus blooms along the street nearby. I turned the corner from the marina and saw the flowers along the fence. They usually only bloom at night but if you are here early in the morning you might catch them right before they close up for the day. There are a lot of these plants in Dunedin and Safety Harbor and sometimes people have parties at night to watch them bloom.

The lily-of-the-nile was blooming along the walk as well.

Rescues transports in late March and early April

On June 13, 2024June 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants9 Comments

It was near the end of March and I was heading to Penny’s (the rehabber) house in south St. Pete to pick up some osprey. I got into a little traffic jam waiting for peacocks to cross the street before her house. These birds are everywhere now.

Heading back to Tampa, it looked like I was going to be driving through a storm.

I made it to the Raptor Center with 2 osprey that were going to be released. They had come in injured and both were going home. I didn’t even open the boxes to get a pic. Someone else was picking them up from the Raptor Center and taking them to central Florida (near Lakeland) to be released.

A few days later I got the text that there was a baby duck that had been brought into the emergency vet office. I picked it up along with the screech owl below that had been brought in and drove them to the Raptor Center in Brandon.

Nancy was checking the owl’s crop to see how skinny it was. It was pretty malnourished but should be okay once she got it eating again.

April started off with me picking up a tiny baby blue jay at the emergency vet and taking it to the Raptor Center. What a mouth!

Later that week I took a barred owl with an injured eye and a screech owl with an injured nose from the Raptor Center to Moccasin Lake Nature Park where another rehabber works out of. Barbara was going to take the barred owl to a vet that works with wildlife the next day. They wanted to make sure his eye would be okay long term. The screech owl was going to rehab at the park where other injured screech owls were living.

Moccasin Lake Park has a raptor sanctuary where permanently injured birds reside. While I was there I was able to spend some time in the hospital room. This little screech owl had the cutest little hum.

This red shoulder hawk had an injured eye and feet. He had just come back from the vet. He was going to be getting well here at the hospital.

The park also has some great hiking trails and a turtle pond. It’s a little bit of nature in the middle of Clearwater and right off of a busy road.

Wild peacocks roam the park here as well and this guy was admiring himself in someone’s bumper.

Some of the permanently injured birds here include a kestral and a swallow tail kite.

The above eagle is missing any eye so he’s always looking to one side.

These two live here. One is blind in one eye and the other is missing a wing. You can hear them having a conversation with the volunteer.

I stopped by the nearby Safety Harbor fishing pier before heading home. It was a beautiful afternoon and not hot yet.

A few days later the barred owl with the injured eye made the trip back to the Raptor Center. The vet had cleared his eye and after a few more days of Nancy putting drops in it the owl will be released.