Bunche Beach at sunrise

Earlier this week there was an organized walk at Bunche Beach and since I was working I wasn't able to attend, though I had been thinking about Bunche and I was happy to finally be able to visit the area - the sun was about to rise and the tide was still heading out, come along and see what's happening out there nowadays....

It's always a toss up when I arrive at the beach....should I go East or West??...I headed West and periodically checked for the sun - in the meantime the sky provided quite a beautiful palette don't you think?

Some of the birds are already quite busy - this Great Egret showed me its best side.

Now, that's my kind of sunrise!

The Roseate Spoonbill seemed to agree with me.

I have to say the sun looks good on it.

One of my favorite - the Oystercatcher.

Followed by the Black Skimmers, a young one - front and center is sporting a spiffy green band.

The Piping Plover are always fun to watch, like all the other plovers - it is very fast on its feet.

A few Common Tern were discovered - adult and non breeding plumage.

A Marbled Godwit - its honey color gets quite accentuated by the morning sun.

I'm back at my starting point and spent some time admiring this Great Blue Heron, it must be used to human because it stayed put as people went by.

The wind played with its feathers - giving it a 'crest' look.

This is looking West - the Sanibel Causeway is in the far background.

The white morph of the Reddish Egret - sporting a transmitter for the ongoing study by ARCI.

I made my way East and found this pair of Caspian Tern - a juvenile with an adult.

I spotted a Spotted Sandpiper with barely a spot on.

And a cameo appearance of an....

Opposum - kind of cute and very small.

The Spotted watched and waited before resuming its breakfast hunt.

This turned out to be a great morning with some extra time for reflection - I feel blessed.

 

Fort DeSoto with the Caloosa Bird Club

I had been waiting for this trip to take place and as birding goes - I was not disappointed even though the outcome was different than anticipated....take a look, but first grab your sunglasses and sunscreen.

One of our first greater - a Loggerhead Shrike.

At this junction our group had split up in the hopes of finding a reported Groove Billed Ani....

and Bingo! we found it.....I'm in a sorry state that I couldn't picture it properly because he surely deserves a standing ovation.

We were quite delighted - a lifer for many, myself included.

Now the shore is calling....come along

A Northern Gannet was quite a sight...

giving us a free admission to his show

while he swooped and dove into the salty spray.

We then traveled to one end of the park and watched at least 60 Marbled Godwits,

a Whimbrel,

Common Tern, Forster's Tern and

Sandwich Terns

Then we moved to another part and bypassed this beautiful setting

Black Skimmers and Laughing Gulls in breeding plumage.

An Oystercatcher.

More Terns, Gulls, Peeps and Plovers - oh my!

Check out the Red Knots with their reddish belly.

A Common Loon sitting on the beach!

An Oystercatcher sitting on a nest.

The Sunshine Skyway bridge.

On the East Beach of Fort DeSoto we found this Great Horned Owl.

Not too far away we found its nest with ....

two Owlets - how cute is that!

After birding for 5 hours we gathered up and had some lunch while we tallied our birds. Some of the folks were heading to the Murlberry Trees area - sadly we had to bypass because I had to attend a meeting for my Sea Turtle program at dinner time .... soon I will share some of those events as they unfold. Stay tuned. My E-Bird List for Fort DeSoto.