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.
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.
“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.
On a recent trip to Fort Desoto I was standing on the fishing pier watching the pelicans diving for fish. They are so hard to get as they crash into the water. It happens fast. I was able to get a handful of shots of them going down but all of my pictures of them hitting the water are just big splashes.
A snowy egret flyby.
Osprey on the light post.
Cormorant on the light post.
A great blue heron on the light post.
I saw two birds that were hooked on fishing lines. Â 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. Â 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.
View from the beach.
The sun was going down on the dolphins and birds.
A beautiful sunset walk at Fort Desoto.
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.
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Another beautiful day at Fort Desoto!
