Sanibel West

A visit to the west end of the island today proved to be a rewarding and exciting experience....come along and see....

As we braved the gusty winds we marveled at the fact that the birds were able to stand still in the face of such power - heck, we had trouble walking and we are a lot bigger.

We directed our attention to the bird's features - this Caspian Tern for example and the difference that sets them apart from the Royal Tern....

the bill size/color/shape and I also noticed how the black cap reaches the edge of the bill on the Caspian - not so with the Royal.

As we looked back - we could see the blowing sand that we had felt on our skin - the salt air is very thick too, making our glasses/binos unclear to see through.

A bunch of Red Knots were hunkered down together - it's a group effort to shield one another.

The Snowy Plovers were not in large numbers but they too managed to find a clump of grass to shield them from the gusty winds.

When the wind increased even more, we decided to go to Blind Pass and perhaps catch sight of Northern Gannetts - instead we were greeted by the Sanibel Stoopers looking for shells....it looked like so much fun that we actually joined them for a while - had a blast doing it.

We then visited the pass and found this large group of Willet....

and mixed in were some Sanderlings and Ruddy Turnstones

and when we looked closely - we noticed some different plumage in the group....which turned out to be a couple Marbled Godwits

A few Dunlins were in the mix too...

and a few young Brown Pelicans.

Our last sighting was a Snowy Egret which was quite busy chasing bugs that were invisible from our human eyes - we enjoyed watching this bird as it crouched down low with quiet agility.....wishing we could do it too.

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.

 

A beach walk

My life has taken a different fork in the road recently and I find myself with less amount of time to do birding, today was such a day - but while my husband was getting a procedure done, I took the opportunity to steal a few minutes to absorb the beach scene, come along and see.....

There's something to be said about sand in your toes and salt water in the air - of course the birds are the icing on the cake.....

A Red Knot and a Willet

If you are from this area then you probably recognized the pier from Ft.Myers Beach.

In the background the Sanibel Causeway can be seen too.

In the midst of one of the Willet groups I found several Marbled Godwits

and a few Red Knots here and there

Most of the time a group would be seen all facing one direction - in this case it was total mayhem.

more Red Knots

A nice mix - Ruddy Turnstone, Willet and Marbled Godwit

This one begs for a caption...Abracadabra....

Some folks were walking behind the birds and it made for an interesting color reflection.

A Short-billed Dowitcher made an appearance.

All good things eventually come to an end - one last look before leaving the beach - there's no place like home, there's no place like home.....