I was really hoping to find a Franklin's Gull somewhere. We missed the one that was here last year and many are being seen on the Atlantic side of the state. Unfortunately, all we could find were Laughing Gulls.
Ospreys are nesting now and thy often fly by in search of a meal.
We enjoyed watching the large flock of Brown Pelicans on the rocks next to the pier.
Just after we pulled into the North Beach parking lot I spotted a bird off to the right. It was an American Kestrel that actually stayed put after I got out of the car. That never has happened before!
Not too long ago (OK, maybe a couple years) I heard that Pinellas County was going to try and get rid of all the non-native Australian Pines. You could the difference right after we parked. The whole wind-break before the beach was gone and once we got to the sand all we found were stumps.
They cut those larger trees but it looks like they are just poisoning the smaller ones. Sorry, I have a soft spot for Australian Pines. I recall growing up along the shoreline and listening to the wind going through the branches. A wonderful sound to me.
We continued walking and there was this single Ring-billed Gull out that just wanted to have its picture taken. OK, with me.
On the way back I decided to test the macro function on the new camera. My first subject was a chunk of Sand Dollar.
I spotted this grouping of Mangrove stems sticking out of the sand on the way out and the shadows just pulled me down for a close shot.
Tiny shells sit above ripples caused by the waves.
Suddenly a Forster's Tern got near and was feeding along the edge of the waves. It finally was in a pretty good position to try for a shot.
We headed toward the duck ponds again but that will be in another post. When we got back to the house I was trying some more macro shots when this silly Northern Mockingbird popped its head out from a bush.
Stay tuned for the duck story following soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment