Flying up high and swimming underneath

On March 25, 2026March 27, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals5 Comments

A few days before Christmas Brett and I went for a long walk along the water at the St. Pete Pier. As we drove into the parking lot I noticed the orchid trees were still blooming (although they were past the peak). I got out of the car and saw a flock of nanday parakeets flying into the tree right in front of our car. It was another one of those “I wish I had my camera” moments. Even though the parakeets blend into the leaves they were easy to spot because they were so LOUD.

The tide is usually super low in the winter.

We passed a party going on in the street. There was a DJ and they were playing music. They were dressed so colorfully and looked like they were having fun.

The entrance to the pier was decorated for the holidays.

We saw a lot of dolphins this morning.

These guys were cast netting for mullet. It’s hard to catch mullet with a fishing pole so most people use the nets. There were several boats along the pier pulling up the fish and the ones who had just arrived had the empty boats. The “mullet run” season runs September through November but they must have still been swimming around by the thousands in late December. I’m assuming there was going to be a lot of local restaurants with smoked mullet on the menu after this morning.

The dolphins were also doing some fishing in the same spot.

Climbing up the stairs of the pier to the top level, I could see Tampa far behind the sailing class.

Looking towards St. Pete.

On our walk back to the car I could hear more parakeets screaming as they fly by me under the sun.

They flew into a nearby palm tree and hung around for a few minutes before taking off again. These parakeets are wild here but not native to Florida. They were brought here from central America and have been growing in population since the 60’s.

A sunny start to December

On March 18, 2026March 20, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights4 Comments

In early December Brett and I were back at Davis Islands for another afternoon walk. We were soaking up the cooler sunny weather.

It was a busy sailboat day and we sat for a while watching the boats go in and out of the yacht basin.

We found the perfect bench to sit and look for birds and dolphins.

This male grackle was showing off his pretty colors in the sun.

We also had a nice view of downtown Tampa from our bench.

A walk along the water

On February 9, 2026March 6, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights3 Comments

In early November Brett and I went for a walk along the waterfront near downtown St. Pete.

The old historic pink hotel (Vinoy) looked pretty against the blue sky as we passed by. Built in 1929, the hotel was taken over by the Army during WW2 and was used for training. It has been said that it is haunted.

Walking past the boats at the municipal marina.

As we walked out along the pier this sailboat came close to us. It swerved at the last minute.

Pelicans were diving along the pier.

The old pier pilings are still in the water and the pelicans like to sit on them. The inverted pyramid building and the pier were torn down in 2015 and the new pier was completed in 2020. You can read my post about the old and new pier here.

Watching the pelicans diving under the pier. The bait fish are plentiful under the pier so the pelicans are constantly diving around it.

Taking a break after climbing the back stairs of the pier building.

The view of St. Pete from the top floor.

Bees buzzing on the goldenrod that was blooming along the pier.

The orchid trees in the parking area were in full bloom.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) at Image-In-Ing.

The birthplace of pizza

On January 19, 2026February 5, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation4 Comments

On our last day in Italy we took the fast train from Rome to Naples for the day. With no real agenda, when we got out of the train station we decided to walk towards the water and spend the time along the waterfront. We passed through the “real” Naples that most tourists don’t see. A lot of old run down buildings but with so much personality!

We also saw a some cool historic buildings as we walked along the waterfront. The first building is the Palazzo dell Immacolatella, built in the 1740’s. The 2nd building is the Castel Nuovo, built in 1279.

Up on a hill we could see Castel Sant’Elmo, a medieval fortress built in 1275.

The view along the waterfront. We saw several cruise ships in port but we didn’t see any big “cruise ship” crowds where we were.

A new bird for me was the yellow legged gull which is similar but larger to our lesser black backed gulls and smaller than the greater black backed gull.

Looking at Mount Vesuvius that erupted in 79AD.

We were more than an hour’s walk from the train station and in a local area when we found a pizza place. I think we were the only tourists there and the waiter barely spoke English but we managed. I’m not sure why my pizza looks so much larger in the picture but they were the same size. They both were great but we could barely eat a little more than half. I at least ate all of the middle part.

We spent some time roaming around the Piazza del Plebiscito, the largest square in Naples. It was built in the first half of the 19th century out of volcanic rock from Mount Vesuvius.

Our last stop before heading back to the train station late that afternoon was to get our last gelato of the trip. So good and I now miss our daily gelato treats. We never saw any big crowds here and it was nice to hang out with the locals.

On our way home after 2 weeks in Italy.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) at Image-In-Ing.

Flashes of orange and blue on the waterfront

On June 25, 2025July 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights8 Comments

At the end of April Brett and I were out on the bay waterfront in St Pete for a long walk. We started out near North Shore Park and walked towards the pier.

We passed all of the sailboats at the marina and noticed a lot of boats for sale.

It was too early for the restaurant and bar on the top floor to have customers so we climbed up the back stairs and was able to walk around on the top.

The view from the top looking straight, looking north towards the small airport and then looking right from where we had started.

The back view at the top looking out on the bay.

On the way back I noticed some flashes of orange and blue flying across the park. I was wondering if they were escaped pets but then I saw the girl with the bird stand calling out to them. She brings them out to the park to get flight time in and they are trained to come back to her.

Videos of them flying free around the park.

They came back when she called them. I guess she’s pretty confident they won’t go flying off and not come back. I guess it’s the treats that will always bring them back. She’s had them for many years. You just never know what you’ll see out here.

A cool foggy walk on the waterfront.

On April 14, 2025May 11, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sightsLeave a comment

The mild winters in central Florida almost make up for enduring the heat for 9-10 months. It was cold (50 degrees) when Brett and I went out for long walk down on the St. Pete downtown waterfront in mid-January. We parked at the far end of North Shore Park and walked our way around to the St. Pete Pier. It was cloudy when we first got there.

The sun was trying to come out as we made our way around by the municipal marina.

A view of the historic airplane statue from the other side. It’s a replica of the first commercial air flight from St. Pete to Tampa.

Making our way to the end of the long pier. The small building houses a coffee shop, a restaurant and a bar at the top.

Shots from the end of the pier looking towards downtown. First left, then right.

We took a break and sat on the stairs at the split in the walkway.

As we got back around to the mainland I noticed the sea fog rolling in.

I could barely see the pier through the fog.

As we made our way around Vinoy Park and back to North Shore Park it was not as foggy. What a weird morning. Although it was cool it was still sticky. That stranded boat on the small beach was still there from the hurricanes. We stopped at one more park before heading to a big late breakfast but more on that park later.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Davis Islands after the storm

On February 5, 2025March 7, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights6 Comments

In mid-November Brett and I were having lunch near Davis Islands and decided to take a quick ride through the small island that sits off downtown Tampa. We had heard the entire island had flooded during Hurricane Helene but some of the stores and restaurants had recently reopened. We drove past the small private airport and went out to the little beach in the yacht basin. There were so many boats up on land that had gotten stranded when the water receded. It’s going to take many months to years to get them all off land.

The little docks at the boat ramp were missing.

Other than the brown grass and overturned boats, on the surface everything else looked back to normal at the yacht basin.

You can see the downtown skyline leaving the beach here.

We drove down the inside channel side to get back to Tampa and a lot of the houses still had house and yard debris piled up more than a month later.

The St. Pete skyline

On February 3, 2025April 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights3 Comments

It was a beautiful morning in early November when I stopped by the St. Pete municipal marina at Demen’s Landing Park (named after Peter Demen who was one of the founding fathers of St. Pete. He named the city after his hometown in Russia).

A lone pelican sits on the piling and begs me to take his picture (so I took a ton)!

Off he goes.

Another pelican cruises low over the calm water.

There used to be 4 short fishing piers along this walk but after the 2 hurricanes only 1 survived and it’s closed off.

The sculpture across the water is a life sized sculpture of the bi-plane that pilot Tony Jannus flew to Tampa in 1914. This was the world’s first commercial plane flight with the first paying customer being the mayor.

This is a one of my favorite places to walk around and look at on the water. It’s a tiny park but so beautiful looking out on the bay and at the skyline.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Watching the storms come in

On October 24, 2024December 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Tampa bay sights9 Comments

More storms moving in during my walk in early July on the Dunedin causeway. I love when the skies are all moody and it keeps the heat down.

I could see storms coming from Clearwater beach so I headed down to the marina to see if I could spot some lightning or a rainbow. Neither made an appearance.

This was the last time I saw the purple martins. The nest boxes survived hurricane Helene but I haven’t been able to check if they survived Milton.

A dolphin makes a brief appearance as he heads towards Clearwater.

A green heron was taking a break on someone’s boat.

The rain was quickly headed for the marina so it was time to go home. All shots were taken with my phone.

Fish for breakfast?

On March 7, 2024February 29, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

The weather at the end of November and into December can go either way. It can be still warm and icky or turn cold and sunny. Luckily it was the 2nd one this year. Although I was still in shorts at the end of November it was at least cool and 72 degrees. The sun had already come up when I started my walk on the Dunedin causeway.

I noticed a lot of young herring gulls on the beach side of the causeway and ran back to my car and got my camera. Herring gulls are snowbirds and only stay here during the winter. One had found a piece of fish floating along the shoreline. He played with it for a while and then dropped it and walked off.