Birds of Davis Islands

Female grackle sitting on an abandoned boat.

The usual willets are always hanging out around the jetty.

The oystercatchers were pretty skittish. They would not let me get too close.

Spotted sandpiper.

A tern sitting on some type of buoy or anchor.

Nothing unusual was found on my trip to the Davis Islands yacht basin. Just the boring ole oystercatchers, willets and terns. It's still too hot to see anything good but soon the migrating birds will be coming through in bigger numbers and before you know it the eagles will back. I'm counting down the days for when it's no longer hot and the fun winter birds are here. It's only about 100 more days, give or take 10.

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The view from my beach chair - Skywatch Friday

Hubby and I try and head to the beach at least once a month if not more depending on the weather. This trip we spent most of our time in the water. It was just too hot to sit and read a book. I didn't even feel like walking 30 minutes down to the fishing pier to take pictures. Since I had my camera with me I pulled it out and snapped a few pictures to show you our view each month.

We had 2 oystercatchers feeding right in front of us for a while. They hung out along the water's edge. I took this from the beach chair.

I realized when I got home that I have seen this one before. He's got the TT bands on each leg. I reported him on a banding site earlier in the spring.

When I turn around in my beach chair, this is what I see. There's a small trail through these sand dunes to get to the parking area.

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A crab, a boat and some birds

I think this is the largest crab I've seen on the beach. They usually scurry so fast when they see people but this one let me get pretty close before he headed to his hole.

The usual crowd at the north beach marsh: willets, marbled godwits, laughing gulls, some dowitchers close to the grass, one oystercatcher in the middle and the front of a royal tern in the back.

The laughing gull looking for a spot. The marbled godwits with their pink toothpick beaks really stick out.

I was watching these two oystercatchers trying to sleep and as I crept up near them the little dowitcher (I think this is a dowitcher) was trying to hide between the two of them.

This great egret stole this fish from a fisherman who was not paying attention to his bait fish. When will these guys learn.

A snowy egret and great egret waiting for a fisherman to turn his back.

This boat looked pretty beat up and abandoned near the northern tip of Fort Desoto.

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Shorebirds at Fort Desoto

The usual oystercatcher at the north marsh.

Short billed dowitcher in non-breeding colors.

Marbled godwit hanging with some willets. They were all trying to nap.

Wilson's plover peeking at me.

The lovely couple arguing about something.

The north marsh had more than the usual amount of oystercatchers.

I don't know why there were so many oystercatchers hanging around the north beach marsh in late June. They should have been off nesting. Or at least walking around with their newborns. It was the end of June last year when the famous oystercatcher babies were found wandering around the same area with their parents. No such luck this year. I missed out on all of the plover babies this year. I had read that there were at least 2 that had been running around the area but I never could find them. It really was a needle in a haystack search. Anyway, another hot day at the beach. My life is so rough.

Fort Desoto

Big red - there are a handful of reddish egrets hanging around the North beach at Fort Desoto. They've become popular with photographers. This one was trying to catch some fish. He kept his back to me the entire time I was there and then flew off.

Willet watching me.

Flock of willets trying to sleep.

Wilson's plover nesting in the sand. It was behind the roped off area.

Oystercatcher preening.

Wilson's plover wandering around the marsh.

Another hot day in June. Another trip to Fort Desoto park. I stopped by the north beach marsh early in the morning and didn't find too many interesting things. I was hoping to see a plover baby but no such luck. I did see a Wilson's plover nesting inside the roped off area. Luckily, he was inside the ropes. These tiny birds blend in well and it would be easy for him to be trampled on by someone carrying a load such as a cooler, beach chair, beach bag, umbrella, etc. I had heard there were a few baby plovers running around outside the roped area but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. They grow up and move on pretty fast. There were plenty of the usual oystercatchers, willets and sanderlings running around. Oh well, maybe on my next trip.

American Oystercatchers and an eagle - Skywatch Friday

American oystercatcher on an oyster bed. I took this from the car. These birds are very skittish. If I had stopped the car and got out he would have been gone in seconds after I opened the door.

He's like "Hey dude, turn around, she wants to take our picture."

Bald eagle sitting on the causeway light post.

I was crossing the Courtney Campbell Causeway from Tampa into Clearwater on a recent Sunday afternoon and just happened to have my camera in the car. I'm usually on the lookout for osprey on the light posts. There are always a handful across the causeway. I did a double take when I saw the above sitting on the post with cars flying by underneath. When I got to the end of the causeway I turned around and came back on the access road. I was able to snap a couple of pictures before the eagle flew off. Then I noticed the large flock of oystercatchers sitting on the side of the access road and had to take a few pictures of them. I wonder how many other people driving by noticed that was an eagle sitting there. I'm thinking it must be one of the Safety Harbor eagles. I see them at Philippe Park but haven't found their nest yet.

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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. 

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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.

Early birds at the North Beach Marsh

Oystercatchers trying to sleep.

 

Marbled godwits trying to sleep.

Another "willet scratching" shot. These guys seem to do this a lot.

Snowy egret hanging on.

 

Little sanderlings looking for food.

Actually it wasn't that early. It was just before noon a couple of weeks ago at Fort Desoto. I was hoping to catch all of the shore birds doing something cute or eating but most of them were just trying to sleep.  You can always find sanderlings running along the beach looking for food. They dig their little beaks into the sand. I'm not sure what they are finding. I never do see them actually eat anything. They run really fast on those little legs. Since it was a quiet day I grabbed lunch and the beach chair and sat down to read for a while.

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.