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.

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

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. 

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

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.

Skywatch Friday - Storm at the pier

I headed over to Redington Shores one day last week after work to see how the baby skimmers were growing. It started out sunny but then the storms moved in not long after I had gotten there. It's been raining every day lately. At this point there weren't too many people on the beach. The shorebirds and pelicans were having a nice quiet time.

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

Oystercatcher couple giving me the eye.

Parent royal tern feeding it's baby.

Young royal tern.

These guys stayed close together. I'm guessing it's a royal tern family. One of the parents is in the back with the bright orange beak. The 3 up front look like first year terns. They make a nice family.

Famous baby oystercatcher at Fort Desoto

"I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky!"

" Wait for me!"

"This shell looks yummy!"

"Mom, get this gunk off my foot!"

"I swear mom, I don't see it."

"It's time for a nap."

Full disclosure - I did not just happen to stumble on the above. It's probably one of the most photographed babies this month in the Tampa Bay area. There have been other pictures of it on Flickr and Pinellasbirds.com. I got up early on Sunday and headed out to find the family of oystercatchers that everyone was talking about. I have never seen a baby oystercatcher in person. You don't see many adults around that often as well. There are two babies but they were never even close to each other the whole time I was there. The parents had a tough time keeping them together and close to the adults. They were running around crazy (like little human kids do). They were so cute and animated. I must have taken 150 pictures in 20 minutes. I just plopped down on the beach and watched them run around. It was early enough in the morning that there weren't a lot of people around, just a few fisherman who barely glanced at them. I'm sure later when the beach gets crowded they head back into the roped off area to rest.

Wild birds at Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary

Great blue herons have a nest.

American oystercatcher out on the beach with a snack.

Great egret.

Baby wild pelican that is growing up at the sanctuary. Mom was probably an offspring of a permanent resident that was set free and comes back to have her babies on the property.

Wild pelican on the beach. He kept holding up his wing but he looked alright.

A lot of wild birds seem to hang out at the sanctuary. I guess they come to visit their injured friends. I just read on Facebook that the sanctuary had now sent people to help out with the oiled birds in the panhandle. They are going to be very busy there and here. Check them out if you are on Facebook.

Windy day at Weedon Island

Little blue heron taking a break.

Night heron hiding from the wind.

A handful of oystercatchers hanging out on an oyster bar in the lagoon.

This past weekend I went to Weedon Island for a presentation on eagles in Pinellas county given by Barb Walker of the Project Eagle Watch. It was very interesting to learn about all of the eagles nests in the county and how they are doing. There's a huge group of volunteers that keep an eye out on these nests. I figured while I was there I'd bring my camera and get in a good walk around the reserve. I never seem to see much whenever I go there. It's just miles of boardwalk with 10 feet of mangroves on both sides. It was so windy out that I think all of the birds were hiding. I did manage to find a few sleeping in the mangroves around the inside ponds but not much else.

Cold windy day

Osprey flapping in the wind.

Seagulls resting on a quiet dock.

Birds feeding around a fire hydrant on Davis Islands.

You can almost always find oystercatchers around Davis Islands.


Willet looking at himself.

Bad hair day.

Brett & I decided to brave the cold (yes, here it's cold at 55 degrees) and wind late Sunday afternoon and get some excercise walking around Davis Islands by the airport. A huge blanket of clouds hid the sun right after we got there so it got even colder. We lasted about an hour. There were still a handfull of birds around. I figured they would all head for Miami. I would have if I could fly off anywhere at anytime.

Rainy day wildlife

Night heron in the trees.


Great egret preening.

Spoonbill looking for food.

Black neck stilts and an oystercatcher looking out the window.

American crocodile yawning.

I finally have a day off and it's pouring outside. Where do you go to practice taking pictures of birds when it's raining? The Florida Aquarium. Yes, they have fish but fish are boring. They just swim around in circles. The aquarium has a wide variety of birds in the wetlands exhibit. You can get pretty close to them as they seem to be tame and use to all the noise and people around them. They just keep eating or preening.