A cloudy windy winter morning

A few days after I briefly spotted the rare western flycatcher I went back to Sand Key Park to see if I could get a better view. It was reported that he was still there but after looking for an hour I came up empty. The morning wasn’t a total loss though. The above ovenbird and house wren came out and posed for me. The house wren is common here in the winter but I don’t see ovenbirds often. He was a cutie!

I decided to take a quick walk on the beach before leaving. It wasn’t a nice day out and the wind was blasting.

The beach was pretty empty which is rare here.

There were several guys trying to catch some waves. They spent most of the time I was there bobbing on their surfboards but this guy got up a few times.

Off in the distance I could see someone getting ready to kiteboard. The old lifeguard stand is falling apart. It looks recently painted but the stairs had come off.

The clouds were getting darker and the water was choppy. Clearwater Beach is across the pass.

Cormorants all lined up under the bridge. I walked over to the intercoastal side of the park and walked along the sea wall under the bridge. I’ve seen dolphins here before but none this morning.

The snowy egrets were dancing around the top of the water and snatching bait fish.

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Cold and windy at Honeymoon Island

A lone ring billed gull braving the wind on the beach.

A few things on the beach including a large sea sponge in the first shot. The horseshoe crab and starfish were still alive and the tide was coming in fast so they would be gone soon.

A few people were out trying to surf but there really wasn’t any big waves. For a while I watched them sit on their boards. This guy tried once but didn’t stay up long. There just wasn’t enough wind in the gulf.

I came out to Honeymoon Island to walk on the nature trail in the woods but stopped by the beach before leaving. It was drizzling on and off so there were very few people there except for the ones bobbing up and down on their surfboards. Even on a cold windy day it was fun to be out on the beach.

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