Under the bridge

On August 6, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I made another trip to Sand Key Park (next to Clearwater Beach) before the end of April hoping to see some new migrating birds. I could see downtown Clearwater across the water from the back of the park.

Before leaving I stopped under the bridge to Clearwater Beach to look for dolphins. This is a known spot for seeing them and while the water was beautiful and calm I didn’t see any this morning.

Looks like someone was getting a sailing lesson out on the intercoastal waterway.

I did find a lot of migrating birds but nothing new. There were several blackpoll warblers that weren’t shy.

A lone male redstart.

It’s always fun to see the juvenile male summer tanagers molting from their baby yellow feathers to their adult red feathers. I’ve only seen one with this mixed color once before. He was hopping all over the trees and busy feeding but not shy.

A few other warblers were a yellow warbler in the top shot and a female Cape May warbler in the bottom shot.

Lots of butterflies along the playground trail.

I saw a lot of this plant on the backside of the park and didn’t realize it was a castor oil plant. There’s a lot of it here.

I passed through Clearwater Beach on the way home. It looks like they were having some type of fair, like they need another reason to bring even more people to this crazy overcrowded, nowhere to park beach.

🎵 “A 3 hour tour” 🎵

On May 21, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights7 Comments

My sister and her husband were coming to visit for the Grand Prix race (in St. Pete) in late February. They came a few days early so we could do some tourist stuff. Our first fun thing was a dolphin/sunset tour out of Dunedin. We left at 4:30 and boated down the intercoastal waterway passing by Clearwater.

I think that dog was having more fun on the water than anyone else as we passed close by the Sound Amphitheater.

Colors were popping as we got farther down the waterway and passed sailboats and kite surfers. We could see the pirate ship tour boat farther back on the left.

Passing underneath the Sand Key bridge.

We made our way into the gulf and passed by Clearwater Beach and the long Pier 60 as we headed north.

We got all the way to the tip of Caladesi Island before turning around to head back to Clearwater. The sun still had a ways to go before setting so we took our time coming back.

The sun was shining on the new hotels that sit on the south end of Clearwater Beach. When I was growing up and coming here to visit my grandparents this beach was all 2 story motels.

The boat stopped at the end of the beach and we watched the sun go down with a few other boats. It was a busy night on the water.

The Little Toot boat was following us as we made our way back into the intercoastal waterway. It was a beautiful night and got chilly quick when the sun went down. Luckily we were prepared and brought jackets with us.

Passing the pirate ship.

The sky was turning orange and the birds were flying around before going to bed as we made our way past Clearwater and back to the Dunedin marina.

The 2 1/2 hour trip turned into a 3 hour trip when we docked. It was a perfect night. We saw lots of dolphins but the boat was full and I didn’t bring my camera and longer lens so I hung back and let the tourists watch them. It’s always fun seeing the reactions when people don’t get to see them often or see them for the first time.

Just being out at Sand Key Park

On October 15, 2020September 24, 2020 By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights3 Comments

A nice warm windy day in late July. The beach wasn’t crowded early in the morning. Plus there was a storm heading our way so most people probably were staying home this morning. The wind was blasting but the sun was out early before the clouds moved in at lunchtime.

Looking across the channel at Clearwater Beach. Most of the tourist were over there.

I walked over to the fishing piers that sit near the bridge and found a few birds waiting for handouts from the people fishing.

A typical scene looking across at Clearwater beach. The pirate ship passed under the bridge but turned around just outside the channel and headed back into the intercoastal waterway. I’m assuming they stayed inside the intercoastal this morning since the water was choppy. There were a few people on it but I’m sure not nearly as crowded as past summers.