Sweet shore

My plans changed several times within the last 24 hours or so and the winning location turned out to be south Ft.Myers Beach - the traffic has diminished a great deal and heading on that busy street is now doable. Come and see what was on the shore today....

A small raft of Scoters has been reported along the shore and it didn't take long for us to notice them.

We found one Surf Scoter - "rare" according to e-bird. This is a young male which is noticeable by the white and orange bill, when the male becomes an adult it will have a white patch above the bill and behind his head.

This lone Surf Scoter was hanging with 5 female Black Scoter which are really brown, however the male Black Scoter is black.

Several Wilson Plovers were spotted this morning,

the male (on the right) has a darker band below the neck, the female remains brown.

A lone White Pelican was observed, it looks quite young and will most likely stay behind for the time being.

I always find this amazing when I see their pouch and how thin it is when highlighted with the sun.

More Wilson Plover prints.

The Ruddy Turnstone were found in big numbers today - soon they will leave our area and migrate to the High Arctic Tundra of N.Amer where they will nest for the summer.

While we were watching the Ruddy Turnstone a Whimbrel made a brief landing before taking off again - perhaps next time I'll get to see it a tad bit longer.

The Least Terns have arrived and they were quite vocal - a trait that I had forgotten about. They were seen diving in for tiny fish and eating on the fly.

One of them on the right is banded - pale blue over yellow on the right leg.

A White Morph of the Reddish Egret in breeding plumage - take a look at that bubble gum bill!

A pair of Cattle Egret also in their breeding plumage.

A beautiful sunny day makes it enticing for a dip in the Gulf.

Or for a rest on the beach - the Black Scoter seems to know just how to do that. Happy Birding folks! My E-Bird List for today.