After a really good night's sleep, I enjoyed breakfast at 7:00 a.m. in the hotel restaurant, checked in for my second reservation at this same hotel, and then headed out to the beach to enjoy golden hour. I didn't rush to catch sunrise this morning because the beach faced directly west so there wasn't going to be much of a sunrise from the beach. But there was a beautiful golden hue over everything in that hour after sunrise!
The birds were plentiful and not too spooked if you moved carefully around them. At first I settled in the sand not far from the hotel where a large flock had gathered and just observed and photographed them. Eventually I moved on and walked north until I reach the end of the beach. In total, I saw 18 different species of birds. It was a great morning!
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| Laughing Gull |
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| Willet |
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| The big gull in the back was my focus - I originally thought he was a Herring Gull, a bird I've seen a number of times but looking at the photo closer I see he is actually a Lesser Black-backed Gull, a species from Europe that is now showing up in the US (coming over likely from Greenland and Iceland where they nest in larger numbers). I wish I had gotten more photos of him now that I know what he is. He is surrounded by mostly Royal Terns. |
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| Black Skimmer and Ring-billed Gull |
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| Black-bellied Plover (non-breeding plumage) |
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| Black-bellied Plover (non-breeding plumage) |
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| Foresters Tern |
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| Black-bellied Plover (non-breeding plumage) |
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| Black Skimmers |
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| Black Skimmer |
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| Black Skimmer |
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| Black-bellied Plover (non-breeding plumage) |
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| Juvenile Ring-billed Gull - I just love the brown tones of the juveniles! |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Two Foresters Terns and a Laughing Gull |
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| Royal Tern |
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| Brown Pelican |
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| Royal Tern |
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| Black-bellied Plover (non-breeding plumage) |
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| Willet |
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| Laughing Gull |
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Willet
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| A Ruddy Turnstone feeding off a dead fish |
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| American Crow |
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| Palm Warbler |
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| Laughing Gull |
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| Willet on the right with two Laughing Gulls |
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| Snowy Egret |
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| Snowy Egret |
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| Snowy Egret |
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| Snowy Egret |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Reddish Egret |
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| Reddish Egret |
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| Reddish Egret |
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| Reddish Egret |
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| Snowy Egret (watching the fisherman closely) |
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| Brown Pelican |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Great Blue Heron (just before he chased off the Reddish Egret) |
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| Brown Pelicans |
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| Snow Egret |
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| Reddish Egret |
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| Reddish Egret |
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| Snowy Egret |
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| Brown Pelican |
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| Sanderling |
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| Great Blue Heron (after the fisherman left, he was a bit wild as he strutted up and down the beach) |
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| Willet |
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| Sanderling |
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| Willet |
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| Juvenile Herring Gull |
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| Willet |
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| Willet |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Ring-billed Gull |
After spending a few hours with the birds, I returned to my room to get my laptop and took it down to one of the cabanas to do some work sorting through photos from a space where I could still listen to the waves of the gulf. Today's high was right around 70*F so it was a beautiful day for this!
Then when I got hungry, I picked up my things and walked over to the beach side restaurant that is part of my hotel. I ordered a drink and enjoyed Mahi Tacos that were really good. My shady table was a great spot to continue editing photos while I waited for food.
After lunch, I went back to the room. I tried to continue editing photos but my eyes kept drooping so I took advantage of a lazy beach day to take an afternoon nap. This refreshed me to be ready to go back out for sunset.
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| A silhouette of a Willet |
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