An after work walk around Fort Desoto Park.

Juvenile black bellied plover. I wish I had found this little guy when he just a baby. He would have been really cute and tiny.

Adult black bellied plover. He just kind of stood there like "What do you want?"

Snowy egrets and a great egret fishing off the jetty next to the fishing pier. The sun had gone down behind some nasty clouds.

Snowy egret got a fish!

"Mom, feed me" says the juvenile sandwich tern. Although he's probably big enough to fend for himself, they tend to beg for a while at that age.

Great blue heron thought he had a fish but it was just seaweed.

Cute raccoon hanging around the picnic area.

Our World Tuesday

Also, check out more birds at

Drive home from work - Skywatch Friday

I have to drive across a bridge to get home from work. Or rather I sit on the bridge and crawl in traffic. I have my choice of bridges since I both work and live in between the two. I can take Howard Franklin/275 bridge into Tampa or the Courtney Campbell/Highway 60 bridge. If I take the Courtney Campbell bridge, I also have to take the Bayside Bridge. I usually try and check at least two traffic sites on the web before I leave to see if either bridge has a wreck on or near it. Then I take the other bridge. If I'm sitting on the 275 bridge which is always slower, I keep an eye for dolphins swimming by. If I take the other bridge, I can stop on the access road and take pictures. Last week I had my camera in the car and took the Courtney Campbell bridge home. I stopped off right before dark and got the above pictures. There weren't a lot of birds around since the day was so nice. Too many people had been hanging around the causeway all afternoon. The drive home is always nice when traffic is not bad. So is the view from the rear view mirror.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Fort Desoto birds and a new duck

My first red breasted merganser sighting. We don't get these too often in central Florida. This is the first I've heard of one being in the Tampa bay area.

Little sanderling flapping after a bath.

Black bellied plover in not-quite breeding colors. Stomach is still light colored.

Another black bellied plover that is in full breeding color.

A little corner behind the roped off area that is full of birds. Looks like a lot of royal terns and plovers. Maybe some dowitchers in there as well. I had heard red knots were at the park but I didn't see any when I was there a couple of weekends ago.

Dowitchers sleeping. Nothing like a nice nap on the beach. Although, I wouldn't want to do it standing on one leg.

Sundown on Gandy Beach - Skywatch Friday

One last stop on the way home from work happened the week before the time changed. I stopped at the Gandy bridge beach because it is so close to work. It got dark fast. There were a lot of birds on the beach. Most were trying to sleep but there were a handful of people there and some had dogs. 

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/.

Black skimmers flying away from a barking dog. This looks like a classic Florida boat to me.

Black skimmers coming back to the beach. He's looking at me like "where'd that dog go?"

There's a huge population of plovers on Gandy beach.

Black bellied plover's got an itch.

Oystercatcher couple. There's usually a handful of oystercatchers on Gandy beach but you have to look for them. Often they hide at the far end by the utility tower.

Another black bellied plover in non-breeding colors. In the winter his belly and head are black.

North Beach Sanctuary

The famous long billed curlew walking around.

Black bellied plover still has some of his breeding black on him.




White morph Reddish egret walking away.

The bird sanctuary from behind the ropes.

There's tons of room for these birds but they seem to like to stand very close together. I guess it's the old "safety in numbers" theory.

A large part of the north beach at Fort Desoto in front of the big lagoon is roped off. It's been nicknamed the North Beach Sanctuary. The Audubon put a large wooden deck in the middle of the lagoon hoping least terns would nest on it. I don't think they had any luck this year. Maybe by next year the terns will be used to it and nest on it. The roped off area is pretty big so it's hard to get any specific bird pictures unless they wander outside the area. The above long billed curlew and black bellied plover were walking around outside the roped off area but still far away from the regular tourist. I'm glad the birds have nice beach front property away from the kids and dogs running after them. A lot of these birds are migrating and only stopping over for a couple of days so they need their rest.