Birding Sanibel

Started the day by heading to the Causeway in the hopes of seeing the Black Scoters that had been spotted the past couple of days....well....no such luck - but the sunrise was a great reminder that any day birding is a good day.

Then, I was off to pick up Libby to help our little group with the Christmas Bird Count for the San-Cap Audubon.

Guess who is behind this silhouette?

A beautiful Great-crested Flycatcher treated us to a song and great view.

After the bird count - we decided to go through the Wildlife Drive at Ding Darling since it was still morning and the tides were still low.

First sighting were the Dunlins - they were gathered under the mangroves in huge number - they made quite a nice chorus while feeding.

The white pelicans are always such a nice sight.

The Hooded Mergansers were a nice treat today. And look, there's a Willet? playing peek-a-boo.

A Dunlin on the left and a Least Sandpiper to his right - what a difference in size!

The Dunlin - notice the bill with the downward tip.

More glorious White Pelicans.

Another eye candy for me today - the Red-breasted Mergansers.

They make a nice pair, don't they?

A beautiful ending to a great birding day.

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