Least Tern

I had the opportunity to visit CWA in Ft.Myers Beach this morning with my friend Jewel - while we were there we were entertained by many of the families that are nesting at this time of the year, particularly the Least Tern.

The Least Tern is the smallest of an array of terns that nest on relatively open beaches in colonies.

The nest is a shallow scrape in the sand, to which bits of shell, wood or grass stems are occasionally added after incubation has begun. 2 or 3 beige to light olive brown colored eggs are incubated for 19-25 days.

The male and the female share duties throughout nesting and chick-rearing - small fish is brought to the chick for food.

A young chick.

An older chick with the parent.

A very young chick.

Chicks leave the nest at about age 2 d, well in advance of first flight at about 20 days

 

Bowditch Point and CWA in Ft.Myers Beach

It had been a while since I visited Ft.Myers Beach and the nesting birds at CWA - so, Elaine and I took a drive down and visited with our beach feathered friends.

It was a really nice surprise to find some Red Knots still in our area and some had their full breeding suits on.

2 of those Red Knots are younger birds - amazing to see the difference isn't it?

The white morph of the Reddish Egret was present and treated us to a nice show.

What a treat to find a couple of Eastern Kingbirds on the beach!

We caught sight of this Little Blue Heron with it's catch.

A Wilson Plover was chilling.

More looks of the Red Knots - some with a Willet too.

The dark morph of the Reddish Egret

seen here with a bonus capture of a Ruddy Turnstone.

This Reddish Egret seem to be sporting either fishing line or ?? - no bands were on his legs.

Then it was time for CWA. I hadn't been here in several months and had heard about this - the resident have claimed this portion of the beach their own and in the process limiting the amount of birds lounging around this little pond....

except for this Roseate Spoonbill - he didn't seem to mind being surrounded by all the bright colored flags....he probably felt at home with his bright plumage.

Nearby a pair of Least Tern chicks were spotted

and being called by their mama

time for some tender loving care.

The male parent was resting in between catching fish for the family.

A very precious Wilson Plover

A Ghost Crab - one of my least favorite creature.

A few Black Skimmers are nesting and if you look closely

you'll see that quite a few Least Terns are also nesting in the background.

I think we will have a lot of little ones in the very near future - it certainly will be worth another visit.

 

Bowditch Point

Plans are sometimes meant to be broken and today was one of those days. As of yesterday I became an 'official' volunteer for the Lee Co Bird Patrol and my friend Elaine and I had planned to go to Lakes Park and do some data collection. Well, with some delays, some thunder/lightning and rain, we ended up tweaking our plans and decided to go to the Bowditch Point in search of the White-crowned Sparrow that has been reported there lately.

We arrived at the beach and had no problem finding a parking spot - we set out toward the point and watched 11 Wilson Plover braving the elements.

A banded Piping Plover was spotted on the beach too. Those little bands tell a story - so I went to a few sites, asked some questions and have received the clues to my questions after contacting plover@umn.edu - this is what Alice Van Zoeren shared:
It's one of the chicks that was captive-reared last summer after one of the parents disappeared (probably caught by a Merlin) and the nest was abandoned. When that happens the eggs are collected and incubated at our captive rearing facility at the University of Michigan Biological Station near Pellston, MI. The resulting chicks are raised until they are flying well, then are released with wild-reared chicks of similar age. This chick was released at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on North Manitou Island..

Some rain showers were observed in the distant shore.

A colorful Brown Pelican cruising by - notice the neck feathers and how they are now chocolate brown.

A few of them have prime waterfront property.

This side, with a different message is taken at face value.....

as we can tell by the way the Black Skimmers are passing by.

I like the name of this sailboat! Funny that it came into view because I've been thinking about Sea Turtle Season and how it will begin in just a few short months.

After spending time searching and finding the White-Crowned Sparrow (sorry no photo) with Ed Combs, we walked over to the parking lot and Ed mentioned to come over and take a look at the Common Loon - who sang to him.

It swam by several times and found some juicy morsels to munch on.

Well, folks - what is not to like about this Common Loon! Our plans were apparently meant to be broken and in the process we were rewarded with sweet surprises. Thank You!

Happy Birding! My E-Bird List for today.