A visit to the west end of the island today proved to be a rewarding and exciting experience....come along and see....
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| 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. |
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| 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.... |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| A bunch of Red Knots were hunkered down together - it's a group effort to shield one another. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| We then visited the pass and found this large group of Willet.... |
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| and mixed in were some Sanderlings and Ruddy Turnstones |
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| and when we looked closely - we noticed some different plumage in the group....which turned out to be a couple Marbled Godwits |
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| A few Dunlins were in the mix too... |
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| and a few young Brown Pelicans. |
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| 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. |
