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| Kite-surfing on Estero bay |
Spent a couple of hours at Bunche Beach this mourning. The weather was overcast, breezy and cooler. Only a few walkers and surf fisherman present. A couple of kite-surfers are sailing across the bay,.
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| Willet |
Still looking for American White Pelicans here. Had found five yesterday up in Hillsborough County. Present today were hundreds of gulls, terns, and shore birds. Had to be a couple of hundred Black Skimmers, about sixty Laughing Gulls, about six Ring-billed Gulls, a dozen Royal Terns, the same with Sandwich Terns and a few Forster's Terns. Scanned through these flocks several times over two hours looking for any Herring Gulls, but not seen today. Also scanned the flats looking for the Long-billed Curlew that is occasionally seen here. Did see all of the expected shore birds like Black-belled Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, three Piping Plovers, Short-billed Dowitchers, Marbled Godwits, Willits, Least Sandpipers, Western Sandpipers, and the most commonly seen bird were Dunlins. No curlew though.
A very interesting sighting was a pair of Bald Eagles trying to both sit on the same pyling. Eventually one flew off. As for looking for the American White Pelicans, I was finally successful in with seeing a soaring flock just as I was leaving at noon.
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| American White Pelicans in Flight over Bunche Beach |
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| America White Pelicans over Bunche Beach |
Muscovy Duck, American White Pelican, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Reddish Egret, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Piping Plover, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Forster's Tern, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Black Skimmer, Belted Kingfisher, Great Crested Flycatcher, House Wren, Northern Cardinal, Boat-tailed Grackle
Glad you finally observed the White Pelican at Bunche Beach, Tom. The species was flying in a few at a time every ten minutes or so at Ding Darling over a several hour period on 7 December with a favorably low tide.
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