Flying critters in November

On February 8, 2025February 1, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I had just gotten out of my car for a walk when I heard the monk parakeets screaming towards me. I grabbed my camera out of the back and started shooting as they landed in the trees in front of me. Unfortunately it was right into the sun. Monk parakeets are smaller than the nanday parakeets and they don’t have the black heads. Both types are not native to Florida and there are tons of them here.

They were bouncing and moving around across the trees and I was able to catch a few shots with the sun behind me while they were feeding.

After a few minutes they all took off across the water.

After my walk along the waterfront at the Safety Harbor fishing pier I stopped at Folly Farms to see what was flying around. Even though it was mid-November it was still pretty warm and there were lots of little critters buzzing around.

A beautiful sunrise

On January 15, 2025February 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights4 Comments

In mid-October I was out a little earlier than usual for a walk. I stopped at nearby Philippe Park to catch the sun coming up over the water. I didn’t stay long and headed to the waterfront in Safety Harbor for my walk.

It was a beautiful morning out.

The birds were just starting to get active as I shot the above video.

Over on the tiny beach a dog was having the best time going for a swim.

Walking along the boardwalk I see this damaged dock part stuck to the mangroves. I guess it will be here for a while.

The sun was coming up high by the time I reached the end of the boardwalk.

Back at the parking lot before leaving.

I decided to stop back by Philippe Park again before going home to see if there was a lot of damaged trees from the hurricanes. The ones down on the road had already been moved but the grass areas were covered with downed trees. It’s going to take the rangers months to clean it all up. I was glad to see the owl nest tree still standing and I’ve heard the owl couple are back nesting in it already.

Flying off into the sun

On January 2, 2025January 2, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Spoonbills on my walk at Safety Harbor in at the end of October. They were far out on a spit and were busy preening.

A little blue heron on a broken pier. I had a short walk along the water on the bay and then drove over to the Dunedin causeway for a longer walk on the gulf side.

After my walk on the causeway I noticed the above somewhat rare lesser black backed gull when I was getting in my car. Luckily I had my camera in the car and pulled it out. I don’t see these guys often and realized he had a snack.

He watched me for a short time, wondering if I was going to steal his fish. I stood still next to my car and he started eating again.

Turkey vultures were cruising by him, maybe hoping he would leave the fish?

All of the usual shorebirds were nearby including the black bellied plover in the first shot and dowitchers in the 2nd one.

Pelicans were flying overhead.

Then even more came from the other direction and flew into the sun.

I always love seeing the pelicans fly over. In my head I hear the theme music from the Jurassic Park movies.

Butterflies and a baby hawk

On August 15, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants6 Comments

I’m still working on my butterfly shots. The perfect place to do that is Folly Farm in Safety Harbor. There is a great butterfly garden there.

While shooting butterflies I noticed a plant that had a lot of the grasshoppers on them. It was mid-May and these guys are just starting to show up. These Eastern Lubbers will get even bigger and turn orange when they are fully grown. They can eat through plants very quickly.

The red shoulder hawk was sitting on the first tree in front of the butterfly garden.

A few trees over was the baby. The nest was in an open palm tree but the nest was pretty high up. I waited a while hoping one of the parents would come and feed it but that must have happened much earlier that morning.

Before going to Folly Farm I stopped at the mangrove boardwalk near the fishing pier for a quick walk.

It was pretty quiet. Only the usual birds were there including red-winged blackbirds and a yellow crowned night heron.

The sea ox-eye was in full bloom along the boardwalk. Also called sea marigolds, it lives in salt marsh areas. The only other place I remember seeing it is at Fort Desoto.

Locks and butterflies

On June 6, 2024May 25, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

I didn’t quite make it out to the waterfront in Safety Harbor for sunrise. The sun was already up but not too high. In early April it was still cool in the mornings so I walked around the boardwalk area before heading to Folly Farm to look for butterflies.

People have been putting locks on the cables on the boardwalk. It’s a cute gesture (locking in your love, etc) but it weighs down the cables and is ruining the boardwalk. They get cut off every so often to keep from doing more damage.

I made a stop at nearby Folly Farm. I was hoping to see some early spring migrating birds but had to settle for the butterfly garden being full of butterflies.

I think this is a saltmarsh caterpillar. They turn into pretty white moths.

There were several pupas on the fence. The first is still new and green. The 2nd was about to be a butterfly. Maybe it was coming out that day? You could really see the monarch in it.

Other little critters. That lizard was really rusty looking.

You can usually find bluebirds here since they have several nesting boxes.

A winter drizzle walk

On May 30, 2024May 24, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Tampa bay sights6 Comments

It was partly cloudy when I drove over to nearby Safety Harbor for an early morning Saturday walk in mid-March.

I could see a dolphin far out in the water as the clouds moved in.

I first walked the long pier and then walked over to the boardwalk through the mangroves. The tide was low and the birds were scarce.

By the time I got back to the pier it was barely drizzling. I didn’t mind since it was mild and the drizzle made if feel a little like winter. It was March after all.

There were two manatees hanging out along the pier.

A quick video of one coming up for air.

Before heading home I walked down Main Street. The sidewalk chalk festival was happening later that afternoon and they had the street blocked off to traffic. It was fun walking down the middle of the street, not having to worry about cars. People were just getting set up to start doing the artwork and there were a few booths selling things.

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.

Tides go up and down

On March 21, 2024March 13, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights7 Comments

It was mid-December and a bad storm was coming later in the night. I went out that morning for a walk in Dunedin and took the above at the Weaver Park fishing pier. The tide was super low with the impending storm. The small floating dock at the end of the pier was almost on the ground. I walked down the steep ramp and it felt weird looking up at the poles next to the dock.

The sun was trying to peek out but it never did make an appearance.

The storm came through in the middle of the night and brought a lot of flooding and downed trees. The next morning I headed out to the Safety Harbor fishing pier and found that the parking lot was under water. I parked farther away and went for a walk along the waterfront. The fishing pier was closed so the city could inspect it for damage just in case. While it opened later that morning I have recently heard they are going to tear down the old pier and build a new one some time this year.

The tide was up pretty high, almost to the sidewalk.

When I was walking along the nearby mangrove boardwalk I found a night heron hiding in the mangroves, away from the wind.

This wasn’t the highest the water has been but I’m sure it gave the people who live nearby a little scare. I love stormy days in the winter since it makes it feel like winter here but not the flooding they sometimes cause.

The end of the flamingo frenzy

On February 3, 2024January 23, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

The wild flamingo frenzy continued through the end of October. Flamingos blown in from Hurricane Idalia (late August) were showing up all over Florida as well some northern states. The one spotted near Safety Harbor was one of the last ones to be seen in the Tampa Bay area. I was nearby and stopped on a cloudy icky morning just to see if “HarborRita” (the name the locals gave her) was still there. At first it was really far out in the bay feeding but slowly moved her way towards the mangroves.

Far across the bay, the view of the causeway heading into Tampa.

A few days later I stopped by on a Sunday late in the day and there she was again.

It was windy and the kiteboarders were out in front of the pier. The view across the bay is a little better when the sun is behind me.

I took a quick walk around the boardwalk and found some roseate spoonbills trying to nap. They were far into the mangroves, trying to stay out of the wind.

I walked back to see if the flamingo was feeding. The water was pretty choppy and she looked like she was just trying to stay upright.

She eventually tucked her head in for a nap and that was my cue to head home. This was the last time I saw her.

Above was a post from one of the rescue groups in the area in early November. This was our own HarborRita that was rescued. The tag on her leg matched the one HarborRita was wearing. She was not doing well and was found in some mangroves slightly north of where she had been hanging out. She had a break in her wing that did not set correctly and would not have been able to fly home. She is now living at Busch Gardens with other flamingos.

Looking for a pink bird

On November 9, 2023October 29, 2023 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I had heard there was a pink bird near the Safety Harbor boardwalk so one late afternoon in September I hopped in the car and headed over. After a quick glance by the boardwalk and not seeing the bird I was looking for I started to check out what else was there. I found the above ibis with a young horseshoe crab in his beak. He didn’t swallow it whole but took it over to the exposed sand and started picking at the insides. I don’t think it was much of a meal.

The water was calm and I could see parts of downtown Tampa far across the bay.

There were a lot of birds out on the sandbar area. Mostly laughing gulls and pelicans but there were a few terns in the mix.

A belted kingfisher flew by.

This was not the pink bird I was looking for but the roseate spoonbill is still pretty. She was feeding with several ibis. The reflections were clear since the water was not moving.

Here is the pink bird I was looking for, an American flamingo. One of the wild ones that got blown up to the Tampa bay area during Hurricane Idalia. She was first seen here just past mid-September so she wasn’t one of the first ones to be seen in the area. She is banded and the only info we have been able to find is that she (or he) was banded in the Yucatan (eastern most part of Mexico). The locals that live in Safety Harbor have named her HarborRita (like a Margarita from the Harbor!). She’s been the most consistent one to see but she’s not there most of the day. She usually shows up early in the morning and is gone by 8:30am and then is sometimes there late in the day.

A few mornings later I stopped by to see if she was there. It was pretty cloudy and I thought that would help since the sun would not be behind her. She was not there this morning and you can barely see Tampa across the bay.

I did find some roseate spoonbills taking a bath.

I took a short walk around the marina and the sun was starting to come out. At this point the spoonbills were preening and starting to settle in for a nap.