“Snow birds” at Fort Desoto.

Posted on December 15, 2020 by dinajohnston

I could see the tiny white dots far out in the water when I first walked on to the beach at Fort Desoto. I knew it would take me a good 15 minutes to walk up Outback Key to get even remotely close to them (the above is taken with my 300mm and cropped up). I was hoping someone didn’t come along and spook them before I got out there or that they didn’t take off for the other side of the park.

I finally made it out to the farther area and the white pelicans were busy preening along the shallow end. I snapped a few pictures and then they started taking off.

Luckily they just flew around in a circle and landed in the water close by. They eventually made their way back to the shallow end of the spit. It was a beautiful sight, seeing them all flying around over head. Although, they were a little awkward trying to land. The white pelicans are not year round residents here. They come in the winter for a short time and the last few years they have stayed mostly hidden, hanging out in spits much farther away. There were several other photographers there this morning and I think people have coming to see the pelicans pretty regularly since they arrived.

Something about them makes them such a treat to see so close up. I guess I always think back to the comical pelican “Rufus” in the movie Dolphin Tale. I I think he stole the movie.

She doesn’t look as close as this picture makes it look but she was brave getting out there in waist deep water. I stayed on land or at least ankle deep water. I was afraid one big wave or hole would knock me over and I’d be diving for my camera (even with a tripod). The water was a little choppy this morning.

Meet Morton

Posted on November 21, 2020 by dinajohnston

Since mid-October there’s been a wild turkey hanging out at Lake Morton near downtown Lakeland. At least everyone thinks she’s wild. There’s a few parks and preserves close by so she could have wandered far off her path and ended up here. The neighborhood did a naming poll and the name Morton stuck. She seemed pretty domesticated to me. I found her as I was walking around the lake and she came pretty close to me. People have probably been feeding her. All of the turkeys I’ve seen out in the woods are very skittish and run away pretty quickly. She better be hiding this week.

She was strutting around like she owned the lake. There are brick retaining walls in a few places around the lake and the white pelicans along with the ducks like to nap there. She walked up to the pelicans which are much bigger than her and chased them off the wall.

She then strutted over to another wall and chased the ducks away. The pelicans had moved on and were climbing up onto another wall and she went over and chased them again. She was causing a lot of chaos this morning. It will be interesting to see how long she’s there.

Annual trip to the electric plant

Posted on March 5, 2020 by dinajohnston

After a really cold week, I headed over to the TECO (Tampa Electric Co) plant to see the manatees that hang out there in the winter. The warm water coming off the electric plant in the lagoon keeps the manatees warm during the coldest weeks. Years ago, the plant built a manatee viewing center with a big deck that wraps around part of the lagoon. All of those dots in the water are manatees. There were hundreds of them the morning I was there in late January.

The plant says that the smoke coming out of the stack is actually clean steam. It doesn’t feel smoky when you are there and the sky was clear blue.

Part of the deck overlooking the lagoon. This was still early in the day before the big crowds get here. I got here well before they opened at 10am and waiting in line to park and was out before lunch. They can get crazy crowded and parking is a challenge when the manatees are here in large numbers. The news channels report on them when there’s been a prolonged cold spell so everyone heads over including me.

Some of the birds around the plant. White pelicans were flying high, a young night heron flew by the deck and a vulture was sitting on a platform built for an osprey nest.

Down at the very end of the lagoon, it’s roped off so boaters or kayakers cannot follow the manatees into the area. There is no swimming with the manatees here.

There’s usually some stingrays splashing around.

I took a ton of manatee pictures so more to come on those.

A new bird in late October

Posted on December 9, 2019 by dinajohnston

I had heard he was there for a over a week before I made it down to Fort Desoto. I headed down to the park early one Saturday morning in late October thinking it would be a needle in the haystack story. As I drove into the park I saw several people with binoculars in a field near the boat ramp. After walking through ankle deep ant infested water (the field was flooded due to recent rains) I found the Vermilion Flycatcher. He was out in the open buzzing from tree to tree so it was pretty easy to spot that flash of red unless you weren’t paying attention and thought it was a cardinal. It was the first time I have heard of one being in the Tampa bay area so there were a lot of people coming through that morning looking for him. He’s a beautiful bird and totally worth enduring the over 50 ant bites.

Otherwise, there were just the usual migrating birds at the park. This female rose breasted grosbeak was very accommodating.

The white pelicans are back but they were across the lagoon. You can tell how much bigger they are than our resident brown pelicans.

Osprey have taken over the park. They are everywhere.

Shorebirds near the fishing pier.

TOTO is still hanging out at the park. He’s got a band on his legs with TOTO. I’ve been taking pictures of him for over 8 years. He’s always there with his girlfriend.

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Winter white

Posted on May 2, 2019 by dinajohnston

It’s rare to see a white pelican in Florida outside of the winter months. Even in the winter you have to hunt for them in central Florida. There’s usually a few that hang out at Lake Morton in Lakeland. These guys were still here in mid-March. They usually leave to head north for the summer in late April. Some of the older ones had already developed that bump on their beaks which they only get during breeding season.

A young one was posing.

Once in a while, a few would take off flying, circle the lake and land back on the lake. I’m going to miss them when they leave but hopefully they’ll be back in fall.

SkyWatch Friday

A perfect winter morning.

Posted on March 28, 2019 by dinajohnston

Sailboats far across the bay. The above was taken with my 300mm lens. The below was taken with my phone so you can see how far away they were.

What a perfect winter morning in early February. It was sunny and 72 degrees. I stopped by the Safety Harbor fishing pier before heading home after my walk and the park and pier were packed with people hanging out. There was a kiteboarder skimming across the bay in front of the fishing pier and someone flying a kite next to the pier. People were out walking their dogs and kids were playing in the field along the water. Sailboats were cruising by. This was our early spring. Soon it will be too hot and no one will be here but the skeeters and the pigeons

Pigeons in the park. They don’t get a lot of respect but they are really pretty when the sun hits those iridescent feathers.

A pelican flying into the mangroves next to another one that was napping.

White pelicans flying high up over the fishing pier.

A juvenile blue heron looking for food in the muck at low tide.

The “snow” birds have arrived

Posted on January 17, 2019 by dinajohnston

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

Pink cotton candy and marshmellow fluff in the marsh.

Posted on April 9, 2018 by dinajohnston

Lots of spoonbills in the marsh mixed in with the ibis.

Must have been some good snacks in the marsh this morning I was at Circle B Bar Reserve in late January.

Lots of white pelicans flying overhead but none were landing.

A great blue heron taking off.

I’ve only seen 2 blue wing teals this winter.

This sandhill crane was standing on a nest out in the marsh. I have since heard that this nest did not work but there are other crane couples out there nesting. It would be fun to have crane babies this spring.

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Pretty in pink and white

Posted on March 12, 2018 by dinajohnston

Permanently injured white pelicans that live at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. They are beautiful birds.

Getting their morning snacks from a park ranger.

They have a white morph great blue heron missing a wing that lives there.

Wood stork also getting breakfast.

Pink fluff balls (spoonbills) all lined up.

You can get up close to all of the beautiful birds at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park just north of Tampa. The sanctuary is home to a lot of injured birds.

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