Florida’s Northeast Coast
(click on a photo to enlarge)
I knew the rest of my birding in Florida would not equal the wading bird rookery in St. Augustine but there are some nice coastal beaches that are not to be missed when in this part of the state so I headed over to Ft. George Island with a short stop at Kingsley Plantation. Soon after I arrived a whole school bus of soon-to-be graduating seniors disembarked and you could tell the kids were already in vacation mode. I decided to press on but while driving out, I stopped when I heard the trill of the Northern Parula — a bird that had been so familiar to me when we lived on the East Coast. As I stopped the car I caught of glimpse of something large flying through the vegetation and saw that a Barred Owl had landed just opposite the car.
Barred Owl (Strix varia)
My next stop was Huguenot Memorial Park, the name of which doesn’t sound like a beach area at all but it is. In fact, it’s one of those beaches that you can drive on with sand that is well packed down. I was hesitant about driving a rental car on to the beach but when I saw how many cars were already out there, it seemed safe enough. The best time to visit here is winter when the beach is well-populated with over-wintering gulls, terns, shorebirds and waders. There was but a small remnant left except for abundant numbers of Laughing Gulls, much spiffier looking in their breeding plumage than they are in winter. Here and there were a few Black-bellied Plovers and Ruddy Turnstones.
Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)
Things picked up when I found the resting flock of Black Skimmers, one of my favorite seabirds.
Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)
There they were, a flock of about 25 skimmers minding their own business when a Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) ambled over looking to make trouble. For no obvious reason, the gull approached one of the resting skimmers and grabbed on to its wing feathers and began tugging which resulted in the skimmer protesting loudly.
Ouch! Let Go!
I was expecting the loss of a feather or two but the gull tired of the tug-of-war game and both birds settled back down as if nothing had happened.
In amongst the many gulls were a few breeding-plumaged Royal Terns.
Royal Terns (Thalasseus maximus)
Before long, the pair began to vocalize loudly, the male mounted the female and it appeared that little terns would soon be on the way.
Next stop: Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia
June 9th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Wonderful series on the shorebirds. Loe the Owl. Great photos, Arlene!