Fort Desoto Fishing Pier - Skywatch Friday

I saw this pelican from far away. I saw a little green on it and thought it was a band. When I got home and cropped it up I realized it was a fish hook with a green fish. Hopefully, it will dislodge.

Snowy egret with a bite of fish. He's standing on one of the cleaning stations on the pier.

Osprey nest on the old tower next to the snack bar. I think the one on the left is a juvenile.

The usual dolphin swimming around the pier.

Lots of kites in the sky this past weekend.

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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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Ft Desoto after work

Great egret landing in the muck.

Wilson's plover watching me. There aren't too many Wilson's around. This one was by itself.

Looks like a group of skimmers and royal terns in the roped off sanctuary at the north beach.

This is the tiniest horseshoe crab I've ever seen.

When there's not a Rays baseball game tying up traffic, I try to head down to Fort Desoto to walk around after work at least once a month. There's not much traffic and it's better than driving into Tampa after work. I can get in a good hour and a half walk before it gets dark. The park is pretty busy during the day now so I think late in the day most of the birds have been scared away. The roped off areas seem to be full of birds getting ready for bed. I can usually still manage to find something interesting to take pictures of. Although, there hasn't been anything rare or unusual lately.

Fort Desoto birds and a new duck

My first red breasted merganser sighting. We don't get these too often in central Florida. This is the first I've heard of one being in the Tampa bay area.

Little sanderling flapping after a bath.

Black bellied plover in not-quite breeding colors. Stomach is still light colored.

Another black bellied plover that is in full breeding color.

A little corner behind the roped off area that is full of birds. Looks like a lot of royal terns and plovers. Maybe some dowitchers in there as well. I had heard red knots were at the park but I didn't see any when I was there a couple of weekends ago.

Dowitchers sleeping. Nothing like a nice nap on the beach. Although, I wouldn't want to do it standing on one leg.

Sex on the beach - almost

It all starts here. He says "Come on honey, we have pro-create."

She says "Not now, tourists are watching."

He says "I'll bring home some extra fish." She says "Okay, maybe."

He goes for it.

She scoots back and he misses. She wants to see the extra fish first!

Lots of breeding action happening on the beach right now. I took these at Fort Desoto where all of the laughing gulls have paired up. They're all hanging out in twos. At any given time you might catch some gull hanky panky going on. Just tell the kids they're practicing their frog leaps. There are so many gulls on the beach but I don't know where they nest. I've never seen nesting gulls or baby gulls. I see other babies around Fort Desoto. Last spring there was a famous american oystercatcher couple with two babies running around on the beach. I've seen lots of baby skimmers on the beach as well. Maybe the gulls go off site to have their babies. I haven't seen them in the roped off areas so I'm not sure where all these gulls go to nest. 

A plea to visitors to the Florida coast, please don't feed the birds. The gulls are aggressive and obnoxious. I've seen them take a sandwich from a little kid. It's all cute and fun at first. You feed one or two. Then they call their friends and before you know it you have 50 gulls pooping on your beach blanket (or your head). 

Birds at Fort Desoto

More pelican fly by pictures above and below.

Great egret coming for a landing.

This cormorant was floating around the fishing pier. I took the picture from far away thinking it wouldn't turn into much. When I cropped it up I realized he had a hook in his mouth. I wish I could have seen that when I was there. I would have reported it to the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary. It may purge out eventually. Everyone thinks this is such a common bird but he does have beautiful colors on his face.

Just another day at the beach. I walked down to the fishing pier but it was a pretty quiet day except for a few pelicans and great egrets. It's fun to walk the pier and see the birds and dolphins but I hate seeing birds hooked. How can we reach them to help them when they are floating far away? If we get close in a boat will they just fly off? Sadly, I think they would have to be in pretty bad shape to let someone catch them. There are signs at the pier explaining to the fishermen to not cut the line. It shows them with pictures how to catch the birds with a net if they have one and pull the hook off. I've never seen anyone do that. Most of them just don't care. 

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Cactus and dolphins at Fort Desoto - Skywatch Friday

The cactus were blooming and the butterflies were eating.

The fields were full of blooming cactus.

Pretty flower.

Dolphin at the fishing pier.

The wild dolphin show at the pier.

Someone was stand-up boarding around the park.

Another beautiful day at the beach!

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Pretty pelicans at Fort Desoto - Skywatch Friday

Some people think the scrub jay should be the state bird for Florida instead of the mockingbird. I think it should be the brown pelican. What a pretty face this one has. The above pelican was watching me take it's picture at the fishing pier at Fort Desoto.  He has just enough pink around the eyes and beige on the top of his head. He also has a green tint on his pouch that I've never really noticed on pelicans before. He sat there for a while then flew into the water. After a few minutes he was joined by a friend. There weren't a lot of pelicans at the pier that day. Maybe the fish weren't biting.

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Birds and dolphins at the Fort Desoto fishing pier.

Snowy egrets on one of the roofs of the fishing pier. It was a windy day.

Nice pose.

White ibis flying by.

Dolphin pod swimming by.

More dolphins.

Neat looking ship passing by the fishing pier.

Another sunny Sunday afternoon spent at Fort Desoto. It was very windy and cool. There won't be many days like this left before it gets miserable hot. I saw a lot of dolphins but weirdly they were all swimming far away from the pier. Usually they swim around and underneath the pier. I guess it's better that way. Sometimes the dolphins go after the fish caught on the fishing poles. The dolphin tries to swim away with the fish and ends up with a hook in his mouth or stomach. The fishermen are always mad because they've lost a hook. I always want to say "How would like to spend your short life with fishing hooks in YOUR stomach?" but I don't. I just walk away and shake my head. 

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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.