Safety Harbor fishing pier - Skywatch Friday

Manatees kissing.

Mom, where'd you get those scars?

Dinner.

Laughing gull with his own dinner.

"Sailing takes me away."

The sun is going down.

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Storms across the bay - Skywatch Friday

Found: lost boat with weird writing on the bottom.

Manatee coming up for air.

Tampa from across the bay.

Storms heading my way.

Clouds over the bay.

Feisty crab shaking his one claw at me.

Two crabs fighting over the same hole.

I decided to go to the grocery store on the way home instead of a park since the rain was moving in. Since I had my camera in the car, I decided to stop at the fishing pier in Safety Harbor. It gives a good view of the storms around the northern end of the bay. I ended up staying a while since those nasty storms were coming from where I needed to go to the grocery store. There weren't any birds around except for a few pelican flybys. There were, however, a few manatees swimming right under the pier. The water was dark from all the recent rain so you could only see them when they came up for air. It's fun to see the reaction of tourists who are seeing manatees for the first time. I don't think people realize just how big some of them are until they are standing over them.

The tide was low and there was no water around the seawall along the parking lot. As I was walking back to my car I noticed movement in the sand. I realized there were tons of these little crabs running around. As I walked up to the seawall, they ran into their little holes. I stood there for a few minutes without moving and they started to come out of their holes. I think they are a type of fiddler crab. They only had one claw. I thought they were cute and loved the pink color. It was starting to get dark so I headed to the store.

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Fort Desoto - Skywatch Friday

Least tern looking for fish.

Laughing gulls chasing a least tern.

Nice hair day. Snowy egret catching the wind on a lamp post.

Manatee snuggling up to a raft.

Another beautiful Sunday afternoon at Ford Desoto beach. I had already walked down the beach to the fishing pier and had come back to hubby at the beach chairs. We were sitting under the umbrella contemplating whether it was time to go home or should we stay a little longer. Then hubby says "Far down the beach, there's a big brown blob in the water. Is that a manatee?" We knew the dolphins wouldn't get that close to shore along the stretch of beach. We had never seen a manatee along the beach line. I've only seen them on the other side of the park, in the lagoon area, when I was kayaking. Then people started pointing to it. The manatee swam up to few people who were swimming along the sand bar. I grabbed my camera and took some pictures. I waded out until I was waist deep holding my camera on my head. People were swimming near it and weren't sure what to do. One little kid went screaming out of the water. I kept telling people to just stand still and let it swim up to them, which it did. It's pretty cool to have one swim up to you in the wild, at a place where you didn't have to pay to swim with them. He was so close I could only get pictures of his snout. All the while hubby was watching from the beach chair. When I got back to my chair he said "You're such a tourist." I'm glad we stayed a little longer.

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Random stuff at the zoo

Grasshoppers are popping up everywhere.

Dragonfly at the zoo.

Baby penguin trying to get out his playpen.

The new baby penguin is so cute. The keeper kept the baby close to her. It's still a little young to be out running around with the grown ups but soon it will be out officially on exhibit.

One of the resident manatees. You can see the boat marks across it's back.

Lots of flowers everywhere now.

A sad manatee with a happy ending.

Injured manatee being attended by the vet at the zoo.

She's cleaning his flipper that was tangled in a crap trap.

Sad face.

The manatee gets a back rub.

On a recent trip to the Lowry Park zoo I happened to stop by the manatee exhibit just in time. They had raised the platform on one of the hospital tanks and was cleaning an injured manatee's flipper. Tangalee (there's so many injured manatees that I'm sure they get tired of coming up with names for them) had been at the zoo manatee hospital for a couple of weeks. She was found with a crab trap rope tangled around her flipper. It had cut into the flipper and done some damage but thankfully she didn't have to lose the flipper. She will be released in about 2 months. I see those crab trap buoys floating all over Tampa bay but I never thought that the manatees could get tangled in those. It happens quite often. If you stop by the zoo in the next few months, stop by the manatee hospital. You can see Tangalee's name on the board which shows you which tank he's in.

Animals at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park

Lulu, the hippo, lives there. I caught her in a big yawn.

Lots of alligators there. It's fun to hear the gasps of little kids who see these animals up close. Especially with those teeth. I think he's looking right at me.

There are two river otters but only the one was swimming around while we were there.

Lots of wild wood ducks live at the park. The male is the beautiful one in the front. The female is in the back with a bored look on her face.

There were several wild great blue herons working on nests high over the alligator enclosure.

These are the permanent residents at the park being fed.

Now that it has warmed up the wild manatees are heading out into other areas. There were very few hanging around inside the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park when we were there a couple of weekends ago. The park opens the gates to let the wild manatees into the warmer water of the river during the severe cold tempatures (severe by Florida standards). When hubby and I were there in mid January the river was full of them. Now there's just a few straglers. Most are heading out into other rivers, the intercoastal waterway and upper Tampa bay. There are lots of other animals at the park and a lot of wildlife that hangs around as well. 

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Under water at Homosassa Springs

It's all about the manatees at Homosassa Springs Park.

Upclose manatees swimming by.

My husband was impressed by all of the snook and how well you could see them.

Large groups of manatees huddled together for warmth.

You could see the tail damage on the above. Almost all of the manatees have boat marks on them.

Mom & baby hanging close together.

This manatee was in the hospital tank there.

It's amazing how clear the water is at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. My husband had never been there and I had gone with my family several times when I was growing up so I wanted to bring him there to see it. It was sunny several weekends ago but we had underestimated how much colder it would be an hour north of Tampa. The park had opened the spring gates to let the wild manatees in to the more shallow warmer water. The river was full of them. Walking over the main bridge across the river gives you a chance to see them swimming right underneath you. There's also an observation deck over the deeper part of the river. Tour boats anchor in front of the deck and people get in the water in wet suits and swim with the manatees.

Winter is the best time to visit the park. I stopped by there in late May and the deer flies were biting so bad that no amount of deet was stopping them. Besides the manatees, they also have other animals that have found homes here: otters, alligators, bears, red wolves and tons of birds. But more on the birds later.

Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier -Skywatch Friday

A couple of weeks ago I was on my way back from Sarasota and decided to stop by the south side Sunshine Skyway fishing pier. It's the old Sunshine Skyway bridge that was hit by a barge over 30 years ago and was permanently damaged. They built a new bridge (in the background) but left most of the old bridge up for a fishing pier. I got the discounted $3 picture taking rate instead of the $5 fishing rate. I parked at the entrance of the bridge and walked all the way to the end. It took me about an hour to the end (stopping to take tons of pictures on the way). It was a Monday so it was not very crowded and people seemed to be very relaxed, pointing out the dolphins and stingrays they had seen. One lady was telling me about all the sharks you see there but I didn't see any while I was there. I will definitely plan another trip here soon.

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Lots of great and snowy egrets hanging out on the fishing pier.

Great egret flying by.

These were the only 2 ruddy turnstones on the bridge.

Not as many pelican as I thought there would be. Maybe because on a Monday there aren't as many fishermen.

I caught this manatee going back under the water. It was weird seeing a manatee in the middle of the bay. He was a big one.

Manatees at Safety Harbor Fishing Pier.

The above pictures were taken a few weeks ago. It was cloudy and rainy when I left work so I decided to head to the grocery store instead of a park to take pictures. Since I had my camera in the car and the storms were moving away I decided to stop by the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way. It was really windy and there wasn't a single person fishing, which means there were almost no birds there as well. There were a few stray laughing gulls. There was also lots of manatees. Because of the storms the water was not clear so I could only catch their noses coming up for air but it was fun to watch them for a few minutes before I headed off to the grocery store (a chore I hate).