Sights from Safety Harbor - My World Tuesday

A lost boat near the Safety Harbor fishing pier. It's anchor must have come lose and gotten grounded in low tide.

Pelican flying over the fishing pier.

Two great egret flying by.

This was taken at the end of the trail in Philippe Park on the Safety Harbor side. The eagle was sitting on the closest utility pole in the water. Last winter I saw the pair up there all winter and then some time in spring they were gone. This is the first time I've seen one there since last spring. Hopefully, the mate is close by. This was extremely cropped with my 500mm lens.

I had my camera in the car a couple of weekends ago and decided to stop by the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way home from running errands. It was windy and there were hardly any fishermen there. There weren't any birds hanging around the pier but a few flew by and kept going somewhere. There were several manatees in the water but you could only see their snouts so I didn't take any pictures. I'm assuming they'll soon head over to the TECO plant to spend the winter in the warm run-off water. I also stopped at the tiny bridge at the end of Philippe Park to see if any eagles were around. Yea, there was one on top of the utility pole. I'll keep my eye out for the other one this winter.

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Manatees at Safety Harbor Fishing Pier.

The above pictures were taken a few weeks ago. It was cloudy and rainy when I left work so I decided to head to the grocery store instead of a park to take pictures. Since I had my camera in the car and the storms were moving away I decided to stop by the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way. It was really windy and there wasn't a single person fishing, which means there were almost no birds there as well. There were a few stray laughing gulls. There was also lots of manatees. Because of the storms the water was not clear so I could only catch their noses coming up for air but it was fun to watch them for a few minutes before I headed off to the grocery store (a chore I hate).

Drive home from work

Great blue heron taking a break.


Roseate spoonbills getting ready for bed in the mangroves.

Pinellas County waste plant is near my office. Birds love the bugs that hang out at the waste plant. A nasty storm was moving in behind it.

I stopped by the Safety Harbor fishing pier. No birds around but there was a manatee swimming around. I could see the snout coming up every once in a while.

A bad storm was heading my way so I headed home after the fishing pier.

I had my camera with me one day last week so I decided to make a few quick stops on the way home from work. I drive by the Pinellas County waste plant and there are usually a few birds in the ditches digging for bugs. There was a large group of spoonbills sleeping in the mangroves that night. (I stopped by the next night and they were gone.) I took a slight detour and stopped at the Safety Harbor fishing pier. There are usually pelicans and gulls there but I didn't see a single bird (maybe they headed out of town since storms were coming). I wanted to stop along the Courtney Campbell causeway to look for shorebirds but when I got on the bridge there was a storm coming behind me so I headed for home.

Pinellas birds on a Saturday morning

Ibis digging for food in Tampa Bay.


Boattail grackle eating a berry at the Safety Harbor fishing pier.

Great Blue Heron trying to sleep at Kapok Park.

Wild parrot at Kapok Park. These guys are always high up in trees.

Saturday morning brought perfect weather so I decided to hit some parks close to home. First I stopped at Kapok Park. It was a quiet morning. Not too many birds there. I saw a flock of wild parrots flying around high up in the trees. It's so hard to get decent pictures of them because they stay so high up. I looked for the owls but could not find them. Maybe they haven't come back yet. I'll keep looking. Next I stopped by the Safety Harbor fishing pier. Even though the tide was low there were not a lot of birds around. Lots of manatees still there. I was leaning on the railing of the pier taking pictures of the manatees when this grackle landed on the rail right next to me. He had a berry in his mouth and seemed to be showing off his prize. I got a few good pictures of him before he flew off. On the way home I stopped by Philippe Park and managed to get a very far away picture (see below) of the eagle pair that has come back for the winter. Last winter and spring they spent a lot of time on the first utility tower in the water. The picture was taken with my 500mm lens and extremely cropped.

Safety Harbor manatees

I stopped by the Safety Harbor fishing pier Saturday morning. When it's low tide there are usually lots of big birds feeding there. There was a group of at least 6 manatees swimming around and under the fishing pier. The water was fairly clear so you could see them coming up for air. It was so much fun seeing them swimming around. I guess the water is not cold enough yet for them to leave the area. Soon they'll all be heading over to the TECO plant for some warm water. If you want to see hundreds of manatees together that's the place to go in the next couple of months.

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.

Seagulls flying

There was a wreck on the Courtney Campbell causeway on the way home backing up traffic last night. Since I had my Nikon with me I decided to stop off at the Safety Harbor fishing pier to take pictures instead of sitting in traffic. The sun is already setting earlier so it will be dark on the way home soon. I want to take advantage of the next couple of weeks of sun after work.

The tide was high so there were no shorebirds around the seawall. Not many pelicans flying around like usual. They must have all gone to bed early. There was a fisherman on the pier cutting up mullet he had caught and a couple of seagulls flying over head looking for a handout. (The guy did the right thing and did not feed them). I was able to get in some bird flying picture taking practice. They were flying pretty close so I was able to get a few decent shots.

When I got home this was in my backyard.

Safety Harbor Fishing Pier

Yellow legs looking for crabs.


It's funny to see the osprey sitting on the fake owl. Doesn't he know he's suppose to be afraid of the owl and not sit on the dock? I don't think the pelicans are afraid either.



Spoonbill sitting on a fence just before sundown.



Willet with a crab

Last night I stopped off at the Safety Harbor fishing pier after work. It was getting late when I got there but got a few pictures. There are usually a lot of pelicans flying around due to the fishermen hanging around but there weren't too many tonight. Not many fishermen either. I did see manatees off in the distance. You could see their snouts and big round tails coming up. The tide was low around the seawall and there were a few shorebirds looking for dinner. They seemed to be eating well.

I drove home across the Courtney Campbell causeway and was able to catch this sunset.