It was too early for Spring migration in mid-March but I wanted to take a walk out on the beach at Fort Desoto. I went straight out to the north beach area. I stopped half way and took the above. The first is looking back towards the parking lot and the second is looking north to the tip where I was headed.

There wasn’t a lot of shorebirds on the beach but I did see a few snowy plovers. These little shorebirds are state designated “Threatened”. This is the only place I’ve seen them and not very often although I’ve heard there are some on the beaches in Sarasota.

This little piping plover was across the lagoon and I didn’t notice his missing feet until I was editing the pictures and cropped this up.

Oystercatchers flying by.

After walking the beach I headed over to the east beach trail for a quick walk. No little birds but the nanday parakeets were acting their usual crazy selves. This couple kept getting interrupted but finally had a little alone time.

An osprey takes off and flies right by me.

I always stop at the long gulf pier before leaving and this time there were dolphins swimming close to the pier.

You can really see the scars on the above’s back and fin.

There were 2 female red breasted mergansers taking a bath right at the beginning of the pier. Not sure if it’s really a bath since they spend most of their time in water but they seemed to be cleaning up after a feeding.