This Year's Florida Goals

Actually there are two goals this year for my visit (besides having a wonderful Florida time). My first is to be able to identify all the shore birds as I walk down the beach. Then and only then will I be able to identify the scarcer varieties. Sounds easy but it isn't! The birds come in breeding, non-breeding, male and female plummage as well as totally different juvenile plummage! Since it isn't the breeding season for the most part, one variable is eliminated. My second goal is to identify more of the bivalve shells (clams to most of you). Clam is just too generic a category and last year I started to realize that as I identified several different types of clam shells that I had collected. The "shells for dummies" kind of books don't do a really good job of differentiating so back to the library.

I am also hoping to see a Sandhill Crane and the Burrowing Owl. My sister knows where these hang out so hopefully I can see these in person!

This is an adult Laughing Gull which is one of the most common in Florida. This is not a huge gull and has a black bill. He has a little greyish part on the head. In the spring, this is black and he is a very striking bird. They also are the ones that make that hideous raucous sound, hence their names.
This is an immature laughing gull. Note how much more mottled the coat is but still has the black beak. He stole this fish treat from two turkey vultures which are futher down in the blog.





This is a Ring-Billed Gull which is tied for the above gull as the most common on the beach! This is an adult bird. Note the black ring on the beak which can be larger or smaller!

This is an immature Ring Billed Gull --also mottled like the laughing gull immature bird!

These are Sanderlings which are a small sandpiper which darts in and out of the water. They are very small and usually run in groups.

These are the two turkey vultures who were swooping over my husband (trying to tell him something maybe?) and then settled for a fish head on the beach. There are two kinds of vultures down here -- the turkey vulture with the red faces and then the black vultures who don't have the red.

This was an upturned palm tree hollowed out by the water where the sea had intruded on the beach.

This was looking up at the coconut palm in the front yard of the condo where we are staying.