More big red dancing at Fort Desoto beach

More pictures of the Fort Desoto Park mascot, the reddish egret. Fort Desoto has a handful of them that live there and they like to put on a good show for photographers. I was there early one morning recently and he was doing his dance (or "I'm trying to catch fish behavior"). He's so much fun to watch.  I had him all to myself for a while and just sat on the beach watching him run around. Eventually other people started heading on to the beach and he flew off.

Big red dancing

"I'm going to have a nice quiet morning fishing all by myself."

"Uh Oh, here comes some photographers."

"I better start doing my dance so they can get good pictures."

"I'll make this a good one and then maybe they'll all leave so I can eat in peace."

"They're still here? I'm leaving."

If you want to know where to find bird photographers, head to Fort Desoto beach on a sunny morning and look for the reddish egret. I was there on a recent Sunday morning and was walking around looking for something to snap and was thinking I was the only one there. I walked around the corner and saw a group of people all knee deep in water and mosquitoes. There's a handful of reddish egrets that hang out at the beach. Most people call them "Big red". They are not a common bird here in the Tampa bay area. I think Fort Desoto is probably the only place I've seen them. They are the most active bird when feeding. They run back and forth stalking the fish. They raise their wings to shade the water so they can see the fish better. From a distance, it's looks like they are doing a dance. Or maybe a drunken stagger depending on how comical they get. They are fun to watch and are fairly tolerate of the crowd watching them. Luckily I had taken a handful of shots before a kid went running up to it and scared it off. Talk about pissing off a group of photographers. What can you do, it's a public park.

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.

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.

Dancing reddish egret

The reddish egrets have got to be one of the most animated birds there are. And the one above has got to be one of the most photographed at Fort Desoto. The north beach marsh at Fort Desoto was at low tide. I walked up and sat down on the sand and watched this egret for at least half an hour. He kept jumping around back and forth. He looked like he would take off and then stick his head under the water and come up with a fish. They lift their wings up to shade the water so they can see the fish better. They do it so gracefully. This one kept sort of half flying around. He almost seemed to be performing for me. He was also eating quite a bit of fish. He slowed down after a while and stopped to preen. I headed down the beach to find my hubby.

Stork thinks he's a reddish egret

I was at Fort Desoto recently watching the below reddish egret to see if he would do anything funny. Reddish egrets usually dance around in the water when they are feeding. They use their wings to shade the water so they can see the fish better and it looks like they are dancing. He must have already eaten because he barely moved for a long time. I noticed a wood stork hanging around the egret. It almost seemed like he was copying the egret. I've never seen a stork raise his wings up and down when he was feeding. Maybe it's just a coincidence, or maybe he was trying to impress his friend.

Skywatch Friday - Big birds at Fort Desoto

You can always find beautiful birds at Fort Desoto. When you have men pulling up bait fish all day long there's bound to be a snowy egret or 10 hanging around. I like going to the end of the fishing pier when a big barge is going by. It's always fun to wonder where they are going or where they've been.


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I had perfect weather on a recent trip to Fort Desoto (right before the rainy 4th of July weekend). Lots of big birds hanging around. Great blue herons, snowy egrets and reddish egrets were all there. I'm going to try and go back this weekend to see what the big storms brought in.

Reddish egret at Fort Desoto

Reddish egrets are the Fred Astaire of birds. When fishing for food, they dance around in shallow water using the shadow of it's wings to reduce the glare on the water. They are very active and graceful when feeding. It's fun to watch them dancing around and then stabbing the fish. The above pictures are of a single egret that hangs out at the north beach marsh at Fort Desoto. I saw him there last summer and recently he has been back again. These were taken last weekend there. They are not very common to see in Florida so this guy has been photographed quite a bit.

Philippe Park birds

"What is he looking at?" (Great Blue Heron)


Night heron creeping around the mangroves.


Reddish egret out in the bay.

It was a windy morning for this guy.

This weekend was very windy and a bit cool for this area. I stopped by the Safety Harbor fishing pier and Philippe Park. It was the first time I had been there when there was not a single person fishing. Mostly because the tide was so low the water stopped halfway out to the end of the pier. There were a lot of shorebirds running around. I was able to get a few shots of a reddish egret standing around in the water. It's the first picture I have gotten of this bird in his red/bluish grey color. They are fairly rare to see. Fort Desoto has a white morph of this bird that lives at the north beach marsh. I stopped by Philippe Park before heading home hoping to see the eagles that I had heard where back for the winter. No site of the eagles again. I did find a great blue heron and a night heron in the mangroves by the bridge. Not many other birds around.

Fort Desoto birds

Rare sighting of a white morph reddish egret.

Marbled godwit going in for a swim.

Great egret looking for food and finding himself.



Great blue heron preening.

I had Friday off so I headed to Fort Desoto park early to see what kinds of birds I could fine. It was a hot sunny morning. There were tons of the usual gulls and terns there as well as marbled godwits, ruddy turnstones, egrets and great blue herons. I was able to get a picture of a fairly rare bird - a white morph of a reddish egret. They are normally dark red from their neck up and dark greyish/blue from the neck down. Occasionally you will see an all white one. They have the same straight beak. He (or she) was prancing around in the water. I got tons of great pictures that morning.