I woke up early, before 6:00 a.m., and could not go back to sleep. Perhaps, I did not want to go back to sleep. I was in Florida, a birder's paradise, and I wanted to go somewhere and see some birds. Greg, Lynn, and the girls were still asleep, but Carrie woke up as she heard me getting ready to leave. I was pleased to hear that she wanted to go birding with me. I had heard that Fort DeSoto was the best place to bird in the Tampa, FL area, and I had seen reports on ebird.com of sightings of a variety of shorebirds there that I had been hoping to see. I was particularly hoping to see Whimbrel, Red Knot, Wilson's Plover, Snowy Plover, and Marbled Godwit. Why not start off with the best place to bird? We packed our sunblock, bug spray, and some food and water and headed out the door.
It took Carrie and I 45 minutes to an hour to get to Fort DeSoto, but the drive was spectacular since we saw lots of birds on the way. As we crossed the bridge into St. Petersburg, there was an Osprey on top of every other light pole. For someone accustomed to getting one or two brief glimpses of Osprey a year, this was amazing!
As we approached the entrance to the park, there were numerous Laughing Gulls, and a Great Blue Heron was standing on the bridge right next to the road. After we paid the $5.00 fee at the gate, we drove straight until the road came to a T. Then we turned left and headed for Turnaround Beach. This beach is so named because it is at the end of the island, and there is a sort of cul-de-sac there so that you can turn around and go the other way. This was a wonderful place because there was a variety of species there, and you could see them from the road so you did not even have to get out of your though we did get out.
The first birds we noticed were the Wood Storks--another lifer for both of us. These birds looked like sentries guarding the beach. Carrie thought they were ugly, but I thought them impressive. They seemed much larger and bulkier than I had imagined them to be. Later on our trip Carrie commented that they were much more beautiful in flight.
Willets were walking around and lying on the beach.
Next we noticed a group of terns and gulls by the water, including a Royal Tern, the larger bird with the orange bill, three Sandwich Terns, and several Laughing Gulls. Sandwich Terns are smaller than Royal Terns, and have black bills with yellow tips.
While I was looking at these gulls and terns by the water, Carrie noticed two tiny Least Terns further up the beach. One of them was an adult and the other, a juvenile.
Other shorebirds on the beach included two Black-bellied Plover, a Wilson's Plover, and a Ruddy Turnstone.
It took me a while to recognize these Short-billed Dowitchers when I first saw them along the shore because I was used to seeing them in breeding plumage in Illinois in the Spring.
Carrie had some great looks at a Tricolored Heron that flew in while I was photographing shorebirds. As we left this beach to check out another area of the park, I snapped this shot of a Great Blue Heron, who had been standing by the beach the whole time we were there.
As Carrie and I drove toward the North beach on the other end of the park, we saw several more Ospreys including this one.
As we pulled up to the far end of the North Beach parking lot, we noticed a couple of Magnificent Frigatebirds flying overhead.
As we walked North along the beach, we noticed that much of the area was under water. The tide was coming in, but as I later discovered the water levels were higher than usual due to the recent tropical storm. A Reddish Egret flew past us, and we ran into a couple of photographers who had been photographing the Reddish Egret. They were now facing a group of shorebirds and other birds that were separated from us by a pool of water. We spoke with one of them named Bill Long. Carrie continued talking with him while I rolled up the legs on my jeans and waded through the pool to get closer to the birds. Bill asked for Carrie's email so that he could send us some of the pictures he took including the one of me photographing the birds at the beginning of this post. Bill later gave me permission to post this picture.
Once I had waded across the pool, I very happily discovered about twelve Marbled Godwits amongst the numerous Willets. Some of these were in breeding plumage and therefore had orange bills, while others had the nonbreeding pink bills. They were all beautiful!
Many of the shorebirds were standing on one leg.
Other birds in this group included a Mottled Duck, three Black Skimmers, and six or seven Short-billed Dowitchers.
This Short-billed Dowitcher was still in breeding plumage.
In this photo, it looks like the Marbled Godwit is telling the Short-billed Dowitcher, "Now do you see why you're called 'Short-billed'"
I waded back to check on Carrie and came back intending to wade out further to see another group of birds. When I returned, a Forster's Tern had joined the ranks, and the shorebirds were stretching.
The tide was getting higher, however, and I decided not to wade out any further since I was wearing jeans. On my way back to the car, I saw three American Oystercatchers.
I quickly checked another part of the North beach before leaving and found a Snowy Egret hunting.
Carrie and I saw our first Fish Crows near the parking lot. I had always thought it would be difficult to distinguish them from American Crows, but it was not. They were much smaller and their call was very different.
We also saw this Laughing Gull, which knew where to find the good food.
As we headed out of the park, Carrie and I saw several birds perched on the power lines, including a couple of Northern Mockingbirds and this Loggerhead Shrike.
By this time, we had been birding for three hours, it was getting hot, and it was time to go home to spend time with my family. After a delicious lunch with my brother and his wife and daughter, we all went to see the old Tampa Hotel where Theodore Roosevelt stayed, which is now part of Tampa University. Outside the hotel, Carrie and I saw this Little Blue Heron standing by the river.
The following birds were lifers for both of us.
1. Wood Stork
2. Royal Tern
3. Sandwich Tern
4. Least Tern
5. Wilson's Plover
6. Magnificent Frigatebird
7. Reddish Egret
8. Mottled Duck
9. Marbled Godwit
10. Fish Crow
And these birds were also lifers for Carrie.
11. Willet
12. Black-bellied Plover
13. Snowy Egret
14. Tricolored Heron
15. Ruddy Turnstone
16. American Oystercatcher
17. Little Blue Heron
So Carrie finished the day with 17 lifers, and I finished with 10. Below is a list of all the birds we saw at Fort DeSoto County Park
Fort DeSoto County Park, Pinellas, US-FL
Jul 2, 2012 7:30 AM - 10:40 AM
Protocol: Traveling
10.0 mile(s)
30 species
Mottled Duck 1
Wood Stork 8
Magnificent Frigatebird 5
Double-crested Cormorant 51
Brown Pelican 2
Great Blue Heron 2
Great Egret 9
Snowy Egret 6
Tricolored Heron 1
Reddish Egret 1
White Ibis 28
Osprey 12
Black-bellied Plover 2
Wilson's Plover 1
American Oystercatcher 3
Willet 25
Marbled Godwit 12
Ruddy Turnstone 1
Short-billed Dowitcher 12
Laughing Gull 43
Least Tern 2
Forster's Tern 1
Royal Tern 1
Sandwich Tern 3
Black Skimmer 9
Mourning Dove 5
Loggerhead Shrike 2
Fish Crow 6
Northern Mockingbird 2
Northern Cardinal 4
Written and published on July 17, 2012
I am so jealous! Looks like you had a marvelous time... Great photos!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. Being a Floridian, I am constantly asking myself, where have all our birds gone. What once was almost annoying, is now dearly missed.
ReplyDelete