Tag Archives: sunshine skyway bridge

Ghost town on the beach

Posted on by
5

A nice clean beach after Park supervisor Jim had scooped up all of the dead fish from the red tide algae bloom that lands on the beach during high tide. This morning in late October, Jim had told me that they had just cleaned up 6 miles of beaches, trying to keep it clean so the tourist can enjoy the beach. Even in late November, we were still getting some dead sea life but not as bad as it was in October.

It was still a beautiful morning even with a slight fishy smell.

The dog beach and the fishing pier were deserted that morning since no one wanted to be in the red tide water. It was like a ghost town.

I did see some dolphins coming out of the water from far across the bay.

SkyWatch Friday

Early April at Fort Desoto

Posted on by
2

Pretty flowers on the trail to the beach.

A few of the usual birds on the beach.

I looked back as I was leaving the parking lot and saw the cardinal checking himself out on my side mirror.

A northern parula was the only bird in the woods in early April.

An osprey checking me out.

A pelican flying by and a common bird soaring over the beach in the summer, a frigatebird.

The storm clouds were moving in at Fort Desoto.

Our World Tuesday Graphicimage-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Visiting my favorite pier groupies.

Posted on by
4

A few of the regulars at the pier; the famous great blue heron/great egret hybrid, a ruddy turnstone, a reddish egret, lots of snowy egrets always looking for a handout and great blue heron and reddish egret fighting over space on the railing.

Skimmers were skimming the bait fish.

 

This reddish egret was bored with me.

Shots of a beautiful morning at the pier. These were taken in early September, before Irma.

SkyWatch Friday

Fun morning at Fort Desoto

Posted on by
6

“Don’t go in there” said the lizard. “I had beans for lunch.”

Even the cactus were looking crispy from lack of rain.

On the fishing pier, the pelican stole the fish from the cormorant.

Flyby on the pier.

Cormorant with an itch.

Rush hour traffic in the gulf.

It was a windy morning so the kiteboarders were out.

SkyWatch Friday

Late afternoon at the fishing pier.

Posted on by
4

DSC_6223

A snowy egret flyby.

DSC_6257

DSC_6261

Osprey on the light post.

DSC_6274

Cormorant on the light post.

DSC_6275

A great blue heron on the light post.

DSC_6268

DSC_6228

I saw two birds that were hooked on fishing lines.  Both were pulled up and released. The top one was a cormorant with line wrapped around his foot. The 2nd was a snowy egret that got a hook caught in his feathers.  Everyone helped out and both had the lines taken off and released. The birds were very calm while the people were taking the lines off.

DSC_6255

View from the beach.

DSC_6283

DSC_6285

The sun was going down on the dolphins and birds.

A beautiful sunset walk at Fort Desoto.

SkyWatch Friday

Flying pelicans before sunset.

Posted on by
6

DSC_6144

DSC_6148

DSC_6163

DSC_6177

DSC_6187

DSC_6190

DSC_6204

DSC_6234

DSC_6272

DSC_6289

After our big Christmas lunch and watching a movie on the couch, we decided to go to Fort Desoto for a Christmas sunset. The fishing pier was packed with people fishing and the dog beach was packed with doggies. It was a beautiful late afternoon and everyone was out. There weren’t a lot of birds around but the pelicans were actively diving for fish so I started practicing my pelican fly-bys. The sun was in the right spot and the pelicans were cruising near the pier. I took a ton of pictures trying to get the pelicans right as they dove into the water for fish. More on those later.

SkyWatch Friday