I had missed the Bird Patrol walk that took place on Saturday, so I was glad to be able to grab this opportunity to visit Bunche Beach this morning since the tides were still favorable.
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| Quite a few Plovers were present this morning - here, a Piping Plover. |
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| The sun is slowly rising and giving that special glow to the horizon - plenty of Short-billed Dowitchers can be seen. |
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| The White morph of the Reddish Egret. |
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| A Wilson Plover - check that bill out! |
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| A Piping Plover to my left and a Semi-palmated Plover to my right. |
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| These two Semi-palmated Plovers were quite fun to watch, they went in a circle while watching one another. |
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| A pair of Oystercatcher flew in - the male on the left, the female on the right. |
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| The female sports a beautiful chocolate dress.... |
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| while her partner sports a fine black suit. |
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| Does it get any better than this? |
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| From the edge of the shore, this Great Blue Heron is keeping an eye on things while resting. |
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| Further out, several hundred birds can be seen....Sandwich Terns, Royal Terns, Black Skimmers, Laughing Gulls and Brown Pelicans among others. Sanibel and the Lighthouse can be seen in the background. |
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| A Marbled Godwit - one of my favorite shorebird. |
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| The Dowitcher with his foraging motions. |
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| At the point, I found the resident Spotted Sandpipers in their usual location. |
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| They lack their breast spots as they head into the winter months. |
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| This sandy spot is soft and white as snow. |
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| Several Red Knots were spotted too - busily feeding in the distance. |
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| A Marbled Godwit just behind the Red Knots. |
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| A Wilson Plover |
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| Then, all of a sudden, there was lift off.... |
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| and more joined in, I looked upward expecting to see an Eagle....instead, something really odd flew by |
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| I quickly snap its photo - when I cropped it, I could see white band on the wings, pointed wings, a very dark bird and a forked tail with a white band - my only deduction is a Common Nighthawk. |
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| The Reddish Egret watching its prey intently. |
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| Another Oystercatcher made an appearance by the Dowitchers. |
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| A Black-bellied Plover slowly loosing his black belly. |
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| The Black Skimmers took to the sky in unison. |
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| Both groups heading in opposite directions with a common intention....fish! |
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| Lift off for the Reddish Egret. |
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| Short-billed Dowitcher |
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| I love to follow these footprints in the sand - you just never know who you'll find. |
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| The little prints belong to the Semi-palmated Plover.... |
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| The bigger ones - a mystery. |
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| On my way out I spotted an Hermit Crab in a fancy shell.... |
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| Hey, if you're going to be living at Bunche Beach, you need a fancy shell because ..... there's no place like |
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| it. |
Have you considered cataloging footprints you find? If so, place a familiar object like a coin in the image to assist in judging the size of the impressions. Enjoyed the Bunche Beach fix. I'm looking forward to your report of Vince's 11th Annual Hawkwatch next week.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't get to see the Spotted Sandpipers on the BP walk Saturday, I'm so happy that you did and posted the pictures.
ReplyDeleteWow!!! Looks like someone enjoyed themselves. I especially like the way you were able to capture the Causeway in the back ground, the water and the short billed dowitchers. I also like the way you were able to snap the photo of the reddish egret taking of and the way his feet were coming out of the water.
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