Tag: avocets

Another avocet sighting

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography6 Comments

In early October I heard there was a juvenile flamingo at Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs. It was late afternoon and I decided not to wait until the next morning to head to the park so I packed up and drove over even though it looked like it was going to rain.

On the back side of the little beach there were tons of shorebirds. As I was looking for the flamingo (which I didn’t find) I saw 2 avocets standing alone near the shorebirds. Even though I had just seen 19 of them at Fort Desoto a few weeks before I was still excited to see these 2. They stuck pretty close together.

It was getting late in the day and the laughing gulls were starting their bedtime baths.

A few of the other shorebirds nearby included a Forster’s tern, a ruddy turnstone and a dowitcher.

A great blue heron flies by.

I was hoping the sun would peak out when it got late but it didn’t look like that was going to happen so I left. I did manage to see that juvenile flamingo on another trip so more on that later.

SkyWatch Friday

Avocets on the beach

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I was out at Fort Desoto Park in September looking for flamingos and found a few other things. I rarely go to the park in the afternoon on a weekend but I had heard there was a flamingo close by in the lagoon so I headed down. You can see all of the boats in the lagoon. There were tons of shorebirds on a spit nearby and I was looking around and was surprised to find the below.  Avocets.

I’ve never seen more than 3 here at a time and even one is rare. There were 19 standing right in front of me. A few were still in their browner breeding feathers. After snapping a few hundred pictures of the flamingo I started watching them.

This might be my favorite shorebird. Maybe it’s because we rarely see them here or maybe it’s those beautiful blue legs and upturned beak.

They stayed pretty close together and only moved around when another bigger bird got close (like that juvenile reddish egret). I heard they were not seen the next morning so I was so glad I came down that afternoon.

Marbled godwits are common here during migration.

The terns were taking a late bath.

Watching a snowy egret get a snack.

Another nice surprise was seeing the lesser black backed gull nearby. They are not common here although I have seen a few in the Tampa bay area before.

A royal tern flies by with a snack.

Blast off across the lagoon. Something spooked the terns and they all took off, flew around in a circle and came back.

A rare bird for Tampa bay

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

I took a gazillion pictures of these rare birds. This wasn’t the first time Avocets had been seen at Fort Desoto. Nor was it the first time for me to see this bird. But they are rare to see in the Tampa Bay area and usually don’t stick around long. My first sighting was on a small beach in north Tampa bay and there was only one.  Usually when someone posts a sighting in the area, they are gone hours later. These 3 had been around for a few days and I did not think I’d find them at the big park. As soon as I walked out on the beach I saw them so I was pretty excited. They were out on a sand spit and were far away but posed for a while. They looks so classy, almost like ballerina birds.

People were started to head out on the beach and someone came close by and spooked them. They flew right by me.

Later I saw them snoozing farther out.

While I was in Salt Lake City 2 years ago, I saw hundreds of them out in the middle of Salt Lake but I’m not counting this sighting since they were so far away. They are fairly common out there.

Antelope Island

On By dinajohnstonIn Vacation2 Comments

The weather called for rain during our trip to Utah but we got lucky. We only saw rain on one day. The morning we went to Antelope Island, just after getting off the plane, was a perfect day even though it was a little warm and the bugs were more annoying than ones in Florida. The ride on the causeway out to the island was amazing. We pulled over several times.

Far across the lake I could see hundreds of avocets. Avocets are fairly rare in my area and I’ve only seen one. I was bummed they were so far away but the water levels were extremely low due to a long drought in Salt Lake City.

Across the island a coyote was running for the trees. He stopped for a brief second as if to say “Take a picture quick lady cause I’m outta here.”

The roads were lined with yellow flowers.

Stopping along the way to take pictures of the bison.

The horses were on a historic farm on the island. Even they were getting annoyed with the bugs.

We loved Antelope Island. Since it’s so close to Salt Lake City, we stopped by twice. The bugs were vicious and the birding was slow but the landscape was amazing.

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