Monday, June 27, 2016

Tropical Kingbird and Common Terns

Monday June 27th

Royal Tern bathing at Lido Beach
Today, Bob Pelkey had planned a return visit to the beach at Siesta Key, near Sarasota, in search of Common Terns. Last week he had been successful in locating a White-tailed Sandpiper at this location and maybe it'll still be around today. So I joined Bob on this trip, but we didn't see either species at this location. But we did see several Snowy Plovers that nest in this location. One surprise was a lone Greater Yellowlegs busy search the tidal pool for breakfast in the company of a pair of Rosette Spoonbills, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, White Ibis, Mottled Duck, Tricolored Heron, Semipalmated Plovers and a Western Sandpiper. We also had four Red Knots flyby as well as flyby Gull-billed Tern.
 
Mottled Duck at Siesta Key

Yellow-legs seen at Siesta Key Beach

Western Sandpiper at Siesta Key Beach

Rosette Spoonbill at Siesta Key Beach

We left here to search for another uncommon bird. A female Tropical Kingbird. This individual bird has been returning to a favored location at St Armonds Circle in Sarasota for several years now. This species belongs in Texas, especially in the summer. We do see occasional Tropical Kingbirds wintering in Florida, but this bird runs backward. It reportedly has been nesting with a Gray Kingbird. We first located a Nanday Parakeet and then found several Gary Kingbirds. The Tropical Kingbird did show, but took off before we could get any photos.
 
Tropical Kingbird

Tropical Kingbird

First Summer Common Term at Lido Beach

First Summer Common Term at Lido Beach

Black Skimmer Chick



Black Skimmer with chick at Lido Beach

So we elected to take to move on to nearby Lido Beach for another try at the Common Terns. Here we located six young birds in the company of numerous Sandwich Terns, Royal Terns, Laughing Gulls and hundreds of nesting Black Skimmers. Other species seen included Fish Crows, Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones. a Reddish Egret and a Magnificent Frigatebird.
 
Fish Crow at Lido Beach
Now we returned to St Armands Circle. As we waited for  Tropical Kingbird returned for a photo session, we encountered the Gray Kingbirds again, a couple of House Finches, a Chimney Swift and several House Sparrows. The Tropical Kingbird did show and gave us the photo opportunities we were waiting for.


It was a good trip 
Gray Kingbird

House Finch

House Finch