Tiny rare babies growing up on the beach

On August 16, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

It was May 1st and I was back at Fort Desoto Park early. The sun was already up when I drove over the bridge into the park. I had a feeling the oystercatcher eggs might have hatched earlier this week so I wanted to get out on the beach early.

I had a short hike out to the oystercatcher nest but I got distracted by the spoonbills feeding in the tidal pool just off the parking lot. There were also several tricolored herons feeding.

I don’t see yellowlegs here often so I had to stop for a shot of it as well.

I made it out to the nesting area and the babies were already on the move. The area had been roped off so people wouldn’t trample through the nesting area and the parents were feeding the babies inside the roped area. There were three eggs but only two hatched. One hatched late Tuesday, one hatched Wednesday and I was there early Thursday morning.

They were so tiny and hard to spot across the roped off area. They stayed close to the parents as one parent would take off and then come back 5-10 minutes later with food. I was taking these with my 180-600mm zoom lens and they are cropped so they were really far away.

As we waited for the parents to bring in food to the babies we got distracted by the reddish egrets coming by including the white morph one.

Skimmers flying by.

Mom had a juicy piece of food in her beak, maybe a piece of clam.

After a while the babies got tired and plopped down for a long nap so I headed out. There were a handful of photographers there and several bird stewards watching the area so people don’t get too close. The bird stewards are all volunteers and keep watch over the nest and these rare babies while they grow up making sure they are safe from the tourist crowds.

There was an osprey nest in between the beach and the parking lot so I stopped for a few minutes and caught both babies looking at Mom.

Out on the beach before the tourists.

On August 19, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

It was early in the morning when I headed to Fort Desoto Park in late May. I had heard there were baby oystercatchers in the lagoon the day before so there was a good chance I could find them somewhere near there. The park opens at 7am and I was over the bridge before the park at 6:55.

I was not alone in my quest. Word gets out fast around this area and there were several other photographers also heading to the lagoon. We didn’t find the oystercatchers there (they are on the move once their babies are born but they couldn’t have gone too far). There were a lot of other great birds in the lagoon though. I snapped a few shots before heading to the north tip. The sun was just coming up over the bushes and you can’t see the lagoon from the other side. There were so many different birds here. Great egrets, a reddish egret, a snowy egret, a tricolored heron, and several spoonbills were all feeding in this swampy corner.

I saw the white morph reddish egret feeding on the way to the north tip. I hadn’t seen this bird since last August and I forget how beautiful and graceful he is.

Boats out on the gulf include a small flat fishing boat and much bigger boats.

I did find the oystercatcher babies but more on them later. Before leaving the park I always stop by the fishing pier to see if I can find anything interesting. This great blue heron had taken a fish from a fisherman and the great egret was trying to steal it from him. The great blue heron swallowed it quickly.

A snowy egret had snatched someone’s bait.

A quick video of the snowy egret being chased by the other birds to steal his snack.

Out on the beach early in the morning before the tourists get here, although it’s a long hike out to the tip and the tourists usually stay close to the parking lot.

All the usual birds

On November 27, 2023April 11, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography8 Comments

I made a trip down to Fort Desoto Park in August to look for a bird. Not just any bird but one I had not seen before. A Wilson’s phalarope had been reported there for several days. I made my usual stop on the bridge going into the park and snapped the above with my phone.

I headed out to North beach and figured that even if I didn’t find the new bird it would be a great morning out.

The new bird looked a lot like the above but no, these were plain ole willets. They are common here along the beaches.

A great egret flies by.

After looking around for the new bird I walked north on the beach and found the white morph reddish egret. He’s a regular here if you can find him along the beach. He was dancing around looking for fish so even though I have a ton of pictures of him I took more (because you know, you can never have too many pictures of the same bird).

A cargo ship goes by.

Some black skimmers came flying by and one went skimming along checking out his reflection.

A cute little piping plover was walking around. He had quite a bit of bling on his legs.

A tricolored heron posed for me.

Snowy egrets lined up on the fishing pier. They were waiting for a fisherman to pull up bait fish.

A shot of the Sunshine Skyway bridge taken right into the sun.

Before leaving I stopped at the East Beach turnaround and shot the above with my phone. And no, I didn’t find that Wilson’s phalarope. There were several others there also looking for it and no one could find it again. I was right though, it was still a great morning out.

Dancing for breakfast

On October 15, 2022September 25, 2022 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

I didn’t just stumble upon the beautiful white morph reddish egret. He’s been spending a lot of time at the north end of Outback Key at Fort Desoto. He’s quite famous with the bird photographers there. I found him dancing around in front of a ton of sleeping shorebirds.

He was running back and forth in the water catching bait fish. This went on for quite a while. He was such a show off for the photographers out in the water watching him (I was not alone, there were at least 6 other photographers there early on this weekday morning). White morph reddish egrets are rare and he’s the only one I’ve heard of being in the Tampa Bay area. I’ve been taking pictures of one here since early 2012 but I’m not sure if it’s the same one. I hadn’t seen him in several years so I was excited to find him again.

A mostly white bird post.

On February 23, 2015February 24, 2015 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography16 Comments

Snowy egrets in the wind.

Fishing in knee deep water.

Snowy egrets ignoring the great egret that showed up.

White ibis with a dirty beak.

A reddish egret that is all white ( white morph version). Not common but there has been one hanging around Fort Desoto for a while now.

He’s got a pretty face.

Looking for fish.

Another cormorant with a hook in his beak. There was a guy at the pier that was going to try to catch him but the cormorant was still flying pretty well.

A white and brown bird, the osprey was guarding the nest on top of the old tower near the fishing pier.

I saw the above lying on the beach. The red really stood out on the sand.

A few things I saw on a Saturday morning walk at Fort Desoto Park.

Our World Tuesday Graphic

Watching a white bird that’s suppose to be red.

On September 11, 2013August 7, 2013 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography11 Comments

On a Saturday morning, I was up at the north beach marsh at Fort Desoto when I saw a scuttle going on across the marsh. Two reddish egrets were fighting over something. Maybe feeding space? The one on the right is a white morph version of the reddish egret. While they are common in the Caribbean, there are only a few that hang around this beach and I don’t see them very often.

The reddish egret chased the white morph away.

He landed right in front of me.

He seemed to be trying to recover from the scuttle.

Now he’s just trying to be cool. Giving me a high five (really scratching an itch).

He pranced around in front of me.

“Get a good picture lady.”

He wandered closer to the reeds and started dancing around looking for food but he never raised his wings like they usually do. They raise their wings to shade the water so they can see the fish better. I wonder if he’s a juvenile. One of the bird stewards had told me there was a breeding pair there, a reddish egret and white morph. They have had babies in the past.

He seemed a little lost and wasn’t quite sure what to do.

After a while it was time to leave and I still hadn’t seen him catch a fish. Maybe he just wasn’t hungry.

It was a quiet morning but at least I got to watch him walking around. He came pretty close to me and I kept backing up to fit him in my 300mm lens. There were other shorebirds around but nothing too exciting. At least the sun was out. I feel like I hadn’t seen it much in the past month. If it wasn’t for that slight breeze coming off the water I probably would have passed out from heat stroke.