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When was the last time you saw a bald eagle in the wild?

I saw several in South Tampa last spring, but I hadn’t seen any since— until last week! It was flying in from the bay towards Westshore. A few minutes later, a stranger in a parking lot pointed at the sky and said, “There’s a bald eagle!” as if he was surprised, too.

The first time I thought I saw a bald eagle here last year, I was in disbelief because I didn’t think they came this far south. But I ended up noticing a pattern, where 1-2 bald eagles liked to perch around our shore at low tide to fish. Whenever someone else was nearby, I would ask if they had noticed the bald eagle, and they would act completely surprised that bald eagles live here. Another pattern.

I did some digging and learned there are likely over 1,500 bald eagle nests in Florida! That was back in 2016, when the state stopped counting nests because the species had recovered. Several of those old mapped nests are in South Tampa. I visited a few last year and could tell they were not still occupied by eagles, although I can’t check the many nests on MacDill AFB.

There is a live camera on a bald eagle nest in North Fort Myers that has a large following on YouTube and Facebook. That is how I know Florida’s eaglets are starting to be fully fledged this month, which frees up their parents to travel to places you aren’t used to seeing them. So if you spot a large raptor with an all-white head and white tail this month, it’s a bald eagle!

➡ Have you ever seen a bald eagle in South Tampa? Submit your answer in this week’s readers’ poll, and we’ll post the results next week!

➡ Have you seen any rare wildlife this week? Please reply to let us know when and where! Include a photo for a chance to see it featured next week.

Like ukuleles? You’ll almost certainly make new friends at the South Tampa Ukulele Jam, held on the 4th Saturday of each month! That’s this weekend, so get details and RSVP on Meetup.

I once drove all the way to Everglades City in part to eat stone crab fresh off the boat. But it turns out you only have to drive across the Gandy Bridge, plus a little bit south, to Rumba Island Bar & Grill! I just discovered it there this week, and they told me there’s less than a week left in stone crab season.

For $24.99, you get one pound of pre-cracked “medium” claws and knuckles served hot steamed or cold with drawn butter, plus a strange mustard-based sauce that I immediately discarded. It was deceptively more meat than it looks, and the claws are bigger than what I remember the “medium” size being in the Everglades. It’s totally worth the quick drive across the bridge, so call them to check if they still have it, and put this in your weekend plans!

Submit your answer, and we’ll share the results next week!

We wanted to find out if NOG and SOG are well-known local terms. As promised, we’re decoding those terms this week.

A “N.O.G.” is someone who lives “North of Gandy”, while a “S.O.G.” lives “South of Gandy”. Gandy Boulevard roughly splits South Tampa in half, where NOG was traditionally the nicer, wealthier area, and SOG was more industrial due to the ports, factories, railroads, and AFB.

In the classic phrase of living “on the other side of the tracks”, I quickly realized the “tracks” here are Gandy Blvd, and SOG was the “other side” that gets the negative connotation. But neighborhoods are constantly evolving, and I think the factors that earned SOG the negative connotation who knows how many years ago don’t really apply anymore. But then again, I might be biased because I’m a SOG! 🤔 At least we’re all SOKs because we live “South of Kennedy”. 🙂

While our poll didn’t get enough votes to have statistically relevant results, no one admitted to not knowing what the acronyms mean and most people said they’re SOGs. We’re still curious how well-known these terms are, so we might run this poll again in the future!

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Your Local Writer & Founder: Danielle is a lover of food, craft cocktails, wine, travel, nature, and history. After living in Ohio, Dallas, New Zealand, and 37 countries as a digital nomad, Danielle decided South Tampa was the best place to settle in 2022. She blends a world’s worth of experiences with local expertise as a Meetup event organizer and marketing director to ensure The Scroll is always worth your read!