Fort Desoto in early January

On March 14, 2019February 15, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Little birds along the shore at Fort Desoto Park.

Weird sea slugs that were on the sand at low tide. The muck was full of these.

The tide would be coming in soon to wash this guy back into the water.

A very large raft of ducks far out in the water near the Sunshine Skyway bridge. I think these were mostly ring neck ducks.

Scenes from the beach.

In early January I was walking the trails and noticed an owl sitting in an old osprey nest.

Not a bad way to be stuck in traffic. On my way home I got stuck on the bridge for a few minutes while the bridge was up waiting for some tall boats to pass underneath.

The “snow” birds have arrived

On January 17, 2019December 25, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

I had heard the white pelicans had come down to south St. Petersburg for the winter. They had been recently sighted at Fort Desoto near the north beach tip. The big white pelicans only spend part of the winter in the area and leave in early spring. I headed down in mid-November to look for them and after looking everywhere for them I was about to leave. I stopped at the East beach turnaround before leaving to see if any new shorebirds were there. I noticed something white behind the tall overgrown mangroves. There in a small lagoon, hidden behind the mangroves was a small flock of them. They were busy feeding and didn’t notice me standing in the mangroves across the lagoon. I watched these big beautiful graceful birds feeding together. They would fly in and together, a small group would swim around scooping up the fish. I’m hoping I see them again before they leave.

Beautiful birds and a beautiful morning.

SkyWatch Friday

Ghost town on the beach

On December 6, 2018November 14, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Tampa bay sights6 Comments

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

On June 25, 2018June 26, 2018 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

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 Graphic image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Visiting my favorite pier groupies.

On October 12, 2017October 12, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

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.

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Fun morning at Fort Desoto

On June 15, 2017June 15, 2017 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

“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.

On January 28, 2016January 28, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

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. 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.

View from the beach.

The sun was going down on the dolphins and birds.

A beautiful sunset walk at Fort Desoto.

SkyWatch Friday

Flying pelicans before sunset.

On January 21, 2016January 21, 2016 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

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

Fun things at Fort Desoto

On November 12, 2015November 8, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Another beautiful day at Fort Desoto!

Skywatch Friday

Babies are getting big

On May 7, 2015May 3, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

Another trip to Fort Desoto to see how big the baby owls had gotten.

They were getting big. The sun wasn’t in my favor this morning. The owls were facing the other way.

They were awake but didn’t move too much. They were facing in the direction of Mom, who was in a tree across the trail.

They were half sleeping and would look around every once in while. There’s a lot of bird traffic going on since the nest is between two osprey nest. Seagulls and pelicans were cruising by overhead.