Snowy Plovers - Ft Myers Beach

Tuesday August 3rd

Checked out Little Estero Lagoon this mourning on Ft Myers Beach. Little Estero Lagoon is a treasure in Lee County for the birding to found there. Today was a good example. To try to avoid the August heat I got there early, but I got cooking by 9 am.  I don't understand why people enjoy getting broiled on the beach.

Snowy Plover

Snowy Plover

American Oystercatcher

American Oystercatcher

Ghost Crab

Great Egret

Ruddy Turnstone

Sanderling

A roped-off sea turtle's nest. Plastic sheeting used to corral the hatchings to the water and to hide any artificial light from them so that they don't get lost because of a 'false horizon'.

The birding was very good with the several Snowy Plovers being located. Had good numbers Semipalmated and Wilson's Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings and Western Sandpipers on hand. Found only a couple of Least Sandpipers, a couple of Short-billed Dowitchers a couple dozen Willets and six Marbled Godwits. Counted six Ospreys and five Magnificent Frigatebirds. Brown Pelicans, Double-creasted Cormorants, Least Terns, Royal Terns, and Sandwich Terns were very active. A dozen Roseate Spoonbills were present along with a dozen Great Egrets and many of the other common waders.

My List - (39) Mottled Duck, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, Magnificent Frigatebird, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Green Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Osprey, Black-bellied Plover, Snowy Plover, Wilson's Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Laughing Gull, Least Tern, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Gray Kingbird, Loggerhead Shrike, Fish Crow, Barn Swallow, European Starling, Northern Cardinal, House Sparrow

Some Notes on the Migration
In the past week I have been lucky to find a few of the early migrants here in in Florida. We've seen that the shorebirds have already been arriving for a few weeks now. But now we see that the the small birds are arriving and I have already seen several Yellow-Throated Warblers, A Black-and White Warbler, an American Redstart, a Red-Eyed Vireo and a female Orchard Oriole. I'm looking forward to expanding my list as the migration heats-up.