My World Tuesday - Birds at the North Beach sanctuary & a crab too.

Above is what I see when I walk out to the beach from the parking lot of the north beach sanctuary at Fort Desoto. The sanctuary is a large part of the beach that is roped off so only the birds can hang out in that spot. This gives them a place to stop over and rest during migration and a place to hide from the tourist's kid chasing after them. The lighthouse is on another island, Egmont Key, close by. Now that the summer storms have gone, it's absolutely gorgeous there.

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A mixture of birds flying around. I'm not sure what spooked them but they all just started flying around in circles. 

There's tons of space roped off but they all seem to huddle together. Above is a small spot of the huddle. Skimmers, terns and gulls are the most common in the group.

The above ruddy turnstone had wandered outside the roped area.

Great blue heron flying by.

The beach was full of these tiny crabs.

Little critters at Largo Botanical Gardens

You can always find lots of bugs and little flying things at the Botanical Gardens. It was hot so there were lots of them out. I walked over to a little lily pond and thought "It would be so cute if there were frogs in here". And then I noticed the tiny frog sitting right there looking at me. He was on the other side and I took the above quick. When I started to walk around the little pond to get closer he jumped under the water.

Below is a beautyberry bush. I told my hubby that we need to plant these in the backyard. They attract butterflies. Eventually we'll get around to it. The last picture was taken from one of the bridges that goes over the river that runs through the gardens. On one end the river has started to become overgrown.

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.

Birds at Largo Botanical Gardens

A flash of gray goes by me. It's a tufted titmouse making a quick stop on a tree.

I'm starting to see cardinals everywhere.

Red bellied woodpecker.

Blue grey gnatcatcher.  This has to be the tiniest bird there.

This woodpecker looked slightly different than the first one. It was smaller and did not have the red on it's head. It could be a different woodpecker or an immature red bellied, although his beak looks different as well. I searched through the over 200 different species of woodpeckers and decided my head would explode before guessing this one.

A great egret doing his duty. Yes, the whole world is a toilet.

I made a recent stop to the Florida Botanical Gardens (in Largo). The morning started out cloudy and I thought I would get rained out but later the sun came out (and so did the mosquitoes and humidity). There was a good variety of birds there but I did not find any of the little migrating birds such as warblers. I also did not see a single alligator although I know there are several there. I think it's still warm and they are hiding in the water. 

Boardwalk at Carillon - My World Tuesday

After work last week I stopped at a park close by for a walk. I was walking along this boardwalk where there are always a lot of joggers. The above anhinga is so use to people now she would not move for me. I was afraid to get that close to walk by the tight boardwalk. After a few minutes I shooed her away with my camera.

This is the first time I've seen moorhens preening each other. My cockatiels at home do it all the time but I've never seen wild birds like these do it. That shows how use to people they are here.

The above tricolored heron was strutting along the lakeshore.

Dragonflies are still everywhere.

This small lake has a few small alligators.

I wanted to get some exercise in before the drive home one day last week after work. Now that it's getting darker earlier I have to hit some places really close to work. Carillon Park is an office park that has a small lake with a boardwalk around it. After work it's full of joggers and walkers so most of the big water birds are use to having people around. It started out sunny then the clouds moved in right before I left.

Neighborhood visitor - blue heron

Last weekend we had an immature blue heron walking around in our channel.  At one point he jumped up on my neighbor's rowboat that was sitting on it's side. He seemed to have found something. He was still a little unsure of himself and his balance. I snuck outside with my camera and was able to take a few pictures before he noticed me. He eventually wandered down the channel. This bird will eventually turn all blue. You can usually tell an immature blue when he's white by his lime green legs. I took the below picture later that night from our backyard. Before you get to the house in the middle the channel turns left and takes you out into the upper Tampa bay.

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).