Boyd Hill butterfly and birds - Skywatch Friday

Still a lot of butterflies around.

Pine warbler

Which one doesn't belong? That anhinga is telling the great egret to get off his statue.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge from far away. Yes, I took this right into the sun!

Large flock of ruddy turnstones. I don't think I've ever seen more than 2 or 3 together at a time.

It's still pretty warm down here. It would be nice if it would at least stay below 70 degrees for a while. My Saturday morning walk around Boyd Hill Nature Preserve warmed up fast. I had on a tshirt and pants but after 15 minutes I was wishing I had on a tank top and shorts. I'm such a native now. It's 70 outside and I think I have to wear a jacket. Boyd Hill was pretty quiet with birds so I headed down to the end of the street it's off of and found a small park with a boat ramp that faces the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Of course, by then it was after 11am so the sun was right in my eyes. There was nothing interesting there so I didn't stay long. 

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Skyway bridge - Skywatch Friday

Finally, after all these years, I get up early (5:30am) to get sunrise pictures at Fort Desoto. Did I see the sun? NO! I met my friend Pam at the east beach parking lot and we walked out to the beach in the dark together. It was suppose to be a nice morning but it was a wall of clouds. Even without the sun it was fun being out there early in the morning when the birds where just waking up and taking off and the tourist haven't arrived yet. It's still beautiful to see the Sunshine Skyway bridge from Fort Desoto in the early morning light. I want to try and get out there again to get actual sunrise pictures so I'm going to have to get used to getting up early on the weekends.

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Skyway Bridge for Skywatch Friday

Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Taken from the east beach turnaround at Fort Desoto. When the tide gets low you can see the water dotted with great egrets.

Great egret going for the kill.

He flies off with his catch, which seemed to be trying to wrap around his beak.

"This doesn't taste like spaghetti!"

My first bobolink. I had heard there were a few at the park. I only saw one while I was there. This one stayed close to the ground and kept trying to hide in the tall grass. It was getting dark and I was having trouble getting good shots. I took this with my flash. This was the only decent picture I got of him but I like the way it shows the colors down his back and you can still see his black mask.

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Sunshine Skyway fishing pier - Skywatch Friday

Another trip to the Sunshine Skyway fishing pier. The weather is just too nice not to be outside. I was still surprised to see so few pelicans out flying around. I guess they just don't like this particular pier. There were a lot of other birds around though. The above egrets were sitting on top of the bait fish shop on the pier.

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I think I was half way down the pier when I took this picture of the Sunshine Skyway bridge.

This great egret was trying to hide his catch.

At the end of the fishing pier, someone must have started feeding the gulls because they all started flying around and acting crazy.

I think this juvenile herring gull must have gotten this fish from a fisherman. Either he stole it or it was given to him.

Adult herring gull posing for me.

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.