Sun setting on shorebirds

More skimmers getting ready for bed. The one on the left is yelling "Someone turn the lights out!"

How'd that snowy egret get in the crowd?

Looking at their reflections.

Willet's got a crab.

Marbled godwit getting a snack before dark.

I took these the last week in October. Right before the time change and it was still a little light on my way home from work. I stopped along the Courtney Campbell causeway after work to get a quick walk in before it got dark. The tide was extremely low and most of the birds were far out in the bay. I was walking around in my flip flops but they kept getting stuck in the wet sand so I finally took them off and tied them to my bag. It got dark pretty quick. I had about 45 minutes to walk around. Now I drive home in the dark until mid-March.

  Our World Tuesday

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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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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.

Kayaking in the backyard

Royal tern preening and a caspian tern watching.

There's always laughing gulls around. 

I thought all of the wintering kingfishers were gone but this guy was hanging out in the mangroves. He was far away and wouldn't let me close in my kayak.

Two spoonbills fly overhead. All I saw was a flash of pink high in the sky.

There were lots of willets and marbled godwits on people's docks.

The usual osprey.

I finally got around to a kayaking trip in the channels in our neighborhood in mid April.  I always go out not expecting to see much but I am usually pleasantly surprised. As I was paddling out into the open bay in upper Tampa Bay, several dolphins went whizzing by me. I didn't get the chance to get my camera out. They went by and were gone so fast. There's always a lot of shorebirds, gulls and terns hanging around the docks of the houses that sit out on the open bay. A few docks have fake owls to keep the birds off but I think the birds know they are fake. I've seen osprey sitting on top of the fake owl before.

All of the above were taken with my old Fuji point and shoot camera. I haven't tried to take my new Nikon D7000 on the kayak. It's so much to pack and stick in my small kayak. I'd rather travel light when I'm paddling.

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Fort Desoto birds (and a fish too).

Ruddy turnstone missing a foot.

Royal terns making a fuss (with a few laughing gulls in the background).

Another ruddy turnstone with some wire on his foot. He took off right when I took this.

Willet strolling the beach.

Yum, sheepshead fish. This seems to be a common fish caught on the Fort Desoto fishing pier.

Another trip to Fort Desoto Park beach. There will be tons more of these this summer. It was a cool sunny day and hubby's family was in town for a visit so we headed to our favorite spot. A long walk down the beach to the fishing pier was full of gulls and shorebirds. Mostly the usual laughing gulls and willets. I was bragging about how every time I go to the fishing pier I see dolphins. Of course, this time we walked the pier for an hour and saw zero dolphins. They'll never believe me now. There were very few pelicans there but the fisherman were catching a lot of fish. Mostly sheepshead (we asked a fisherman what they were all catching). Maybe dolphins and pelicans don't like that kind of fish. I don't think I would either, but I'm picky about fish.

Where the shorebirds sleep - Skywatch Friday.

Shorebirds going to sleep on the causeway. The little orange legged ones are ruddy turnstones. I think the others are dunlins.

Willet trying to sleep while keeping an eye on me.

Willets and sanderlings mixed in.

Sun not quite down on the Bayside bridge.

I took this on the Courtney Campbell Causeway.

After dark, you can always find ruddy turnstones on the rocks.

The sun seems to be staying up a little bit longer now. One night last week a left work a few minutes earlier than usual and was able to stop for a half an hour along the causeway and take a few pictures. You can always find shorebirds sleeping along the Courtney Campbell causeway. The causeway is state road 60 that crosses old Tampa Bay between Clearwater and Tampa. The causeway was named for Courtney W. Campbell, U.S. Representative and member of the Florida Road Board who spearheaded efforts to ensure needed repairs and beautification of the Causeway was completed. It is listed under the Great Florida Birding Trail under SR 60. Some nights I take this road home and some nights I take the Howard Franklin bridge (Interstate 275) across the bay. I check traffic on the web to determine my route before heading home. Both routes have pelicans, osprey, gulls, shorebirds, herons, egrets and dolphins but on the causeway you can pull off onto the the access road and enjoy the view.

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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.

Skywatch Friday - Kayaking North Tampa Bay

I looked out the window last weekend and saw beautiful blue skies. Hubby wanted to watch sports on tv so I opted for a paddle around the channels in our neighborhood. I've never seen spoonbills in the mangroves near our channel so I was surprised to find the above sitting in the bushes when I paddled by.

For more skyscape photography from around the world, visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/.

Great egret also sitting in the mangrove bushes.

I paddled along the mangroves across from the Courtney Campbell Causeway and the water got very shallow. Low tide moved in on me fast. The 4 spoonbills were standing in the water feeding and stopped to pose for me when I paddled by.

There was a variety of different birds hanging out at this shallow spot.



I'm thinking the one in the middle is a yellowlegs. Not sure if it's a lesser or greater. I don't see these very often. The ones on the ends are both willets. You can see how shallow the water was.


At one point I got out of my kayak and was dragging it behind me because the water was so shallow in some places. I was a little nervous because there were stingrays everywhere. I was careful and did the stingray shuffle. Even though you could see the bottom, those guys could be half hidden under the sand.

There were tons of the above crown conchs everywhere.

Coming back into the main channel, the above spoonbills were walking around. It was a very productive spoony day!