Carillon boardwalk in north St. Petersburg.

Juvenile northern mockingbird. There were lots of mockingbirds there.

The usual alligator. He was swimming by the birds below.


Three juvenile night herons. The alligator was swimming close by. I think that's why they were standing at attention.

Lots of butterflies around.

Lots of turtles as well.

I found a new park close by work. It's actually not new, I just had not taken the time to stop there. I didn't think there would be much to see. It's a medium size lake with a boardwalk around most of it and surrounded on most sides by office buildings. There's a small section that has a trail and is covered by trees and mangroves. I left work later than usual one day recently and just decided to stop by and walk around. There was a handful of after work joggers running around. It had the usual water birds, alligators and turtles. I'll definitely stop there again since it's so close to work.

All the birds are hungry!

Osprey got his prize fish.

The juvenile laughing gull grabbed a fish but then dropped it. I think he needs more practice.

The above great blue heron stealing a fish from a man standing in the water fishing.

Note to people in the Tampa Bay area - don't leave food sitting out uncovered. I've seen gulls steal a sandwich off a blanket at the beach with a person sitting right behind it. I've seen them take a potato chip out of a kid's hand when the kid was about to eat it. They are very aggressive at stealing food and fish from fishermen. Hubby and I always eat our lunch sitting under the beach umbrella. It keeps the attack gulls away.

On our walk around Sand Key Park recently we saw lots of birds feeding. The osprey and gull were fishing for food under the big bridge where the small fishing piers are. For once I was paying attention and was able to get some decent shots of the osprey with a fish. The great blue heron was watching a man fishing for a while on the beach. That bird was smart. Once the man walked back in the water, the bird walked up to the bucket and grabbed a fish. Then the man got smart and came back on the beach and covered the bucket. Hey, everyone's got to eat, right?

Skywatch Friday - Birds at Sand Key Park

A recent trip to Sand Key Park shows just how beautiful the beaches are in the Tampa Bay area. It was suppose to be rainy but hubby and I went anyway just to get out of the house and walk around. When we got there the sun came out and was beautiful most of the time we were there. The above laughing gulls were sitting on a ridge in the sand that really showed off the blue sky and water.



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Laughing gull had an itch.

Osprey was flying high overhead.

Gull in flight.

Great blue heron was hiding in trees by the big bridge. I think I woke him up. He was a little wind blown.

Willet was coughing up something. Probably a piece of fish.

There's always a lot of snowy egrets hanging around the fishing piers at Sand Key.

Neighborhood visitors over Labor Day weekend.

This immature blue heron was walking around next to our dock at low tide. He should turn all blue by his next molt.

Saturday I walked out into our screened in porch to water some plants and looked up and saw the above juvenile ibis staring at me from our fence. I went back inside and took this from the dining room window.

Sunday afternoon it was drizzling. I looked out the window and saw a few ducks heading down the channel for our dock. This is the first time I've seen a white duck in our channel. I looked it up and it's a type of mallard, so it's the same as the brown ducks that are with it. I ran out to the dock and snapped a few pictures in the rain.

When I went outside in the rain to take pictures of the white duck I saw the above night heron sitting on our dock. I took this picture from the door of the screened in porch. He must be young because his yellow crown was not quite yellow yet.

This girl is a temporary resident who is living in our screened in porch. I think the balls on the left have baby spiders inside. I need to sweep this spider outside or I might be having tons of spiders living in my porch soon.

Another resident, this was taken on my window sill. We have several frogs living in our shutters. I hadn't seen any in a while but Friday night he was sitting there when we got home from dinner so I ran in and got my camera.

So many birds on the causeway.

Willet taking a stroll on the causeway.


Lone oystercatcher hanging out with a few laughing gull friends.

Dowitchers trying to sleep. It was getting dark.

There have been lots of plovers around lately.

Last week I stopped off on the Courtney Campbell Causeway on the way home from work to see what kind of birds are around. Pinellasbirds.com has been reporting lots of shorebirds moving through the area. There were a handful of shorebirds along the causeway but not tons that had been there the week before. We're very fortunate in our little section of the gulf. I've been following Drew Wheelan's blog, http://birding.typepad.com/gulf/ about the Gulf Coast Oil Crisis and I wish there was some way we could direct all of the migrating birds here. I guess they wouldn't be able to read big signs that say "All birds fly east to Tampa". It makes it even more important that we protect the ones that visit or live here.

As usual, there was an osprey hanging out on a lamppost. It was starting to sprinkle as I was leaving so I quickly stopped my car on the access road and took this picture out the window.

Florida foliage at the Pier.

On our walk around the park at the Pier I noticed how pretty all of the flowers looked for August. I guess all of the rain has helped perk up the overheated foliage. The purple flower had a bee trying to get some pollen. He looked stuck but I'm sure he was able to get out. The bottom picture was some type of fruit hanging on a palm tree. I would assume it's not edible but the orange and green on the tree looked pretty.

Pelican taking a bath at the Pier.

We were walking back to our car from the pier and saw this pretty pelican swimming around in the water. All of a sudden it started flapping it's wings and seemed to be taking a bath. It must be a young pelican based on the pale color and lack of any wear and tear on it.