Ding Darling Re-Opens

Today was a day long awaited for - the re-opening of the Wildlife Drive at Ding Darling. It had been closed since the beginning of May and was scheduled to re-open October 1, only to be closed again due to the shutdown of the government. Today was the day that things started to resume their normalcy. It was hard to resist the urge to go into Ding as I drove by on my way to spinning but I figured that I could go through afterwards and I did. The one big difference though was the tide had been coming in for several hours so there weren't many waders present. I spotted a Spotted Sandpiper and I believe he is the regular resident at that particular spot.....x marked the spot.

Don't they just look dreamy....the Willets and Dowithchers....soon there will be too much water for them to stand and they will have to move on.

The Least Sandpiper found himself some shallow ground to rest a bit while digesting his feast.

A Willet around the bend - not too far from the Ranger's Radar.

I look forward to return and see the winter birds make their first appearance.
My E-Bird List