Florida Bird Photography Locations

Fort Desoto

City: St. Petersburg

GPS: N27 37.420 W82 42.858

Fort Desoto is a Pinellas County Park and probably one of the best birding locations on the west coast of Florida. The Park is open from Sunrise to Sunset with the Gulf Side fishing pier being open 24 hours. Outside of the road tolls there is no fee to enter or park in the park. There is charge for the campground area, and parking at the boat ramp.

The park is large and there are various photographic opportunities depending on your interests. Many articles have been written about Ft. Desoto and one worth reading was written by fellow photographer Jason Hahn. http://www.jasonhahn.com/nucleus/item/16
His article details some of the changes that happened during the storms of 2004.

A map of the park can be found at: http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/maps/color/amenities/FORTDESOTO.pdf

As the park is so large I will only have entries for the more popular areas. However it is worth the time to explore other areas of the park that are not listed.

Directions: Take I-275 towards St Petersburg and take the Pinellas Bayway (Rt 682) exit #17 towards the St Pete Beach. After going through the toll booth you continue till your reach the intersection of Rt 679 also called the Pinellas Bayway. Make a left here, and continue on, you will cross a draw bridge and then come into the area known as Tierra Verde. Continue on here, the road will become divided, till you reach the next toll booth. Once through this toll booth you will be going over a bridge and entering Fort Desoto.