Florida: New Smyrna Beach Shorebirding
New Smyrna Beach, FL
Wednesday 3 January 2018
45 °F
Today, the superstorm finally cleared out of Florida so that I could actually go birding on this vacation! We spent the afternoon birding local areas near New Smyrna Beach where we’re staying.
Snail:
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS:
WILLETS:
LAUGHING GULLS:
RUDDY TURNSTONE:
YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON:
OSPREY diving for prey - very cool!
SNOWY EGRET, notice the stunning “golden slippers:”
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD:
At New Smyrna Dunes Park, an impressive flock of 500 BLACK SKIMMERS flew by, life birds for me! Very neat!
And a PALM WARBLER to end the day:
Stay tuned, because tomorrow my family and I will travel to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge near the Kennedy Space Center - Merritt is arguably one of the most renowned birding hotspots in all of Florida, with many possibly life birds in store for me.
Bird-of-the-day goes to the BLACK SKIMMERS, with runner-up to the SNOWY EGRET.
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 935 Species (1 life bird today: Black Skimmer)
Hi- Palm warbler sitting in a palmetto, living up to its name! This brings back fond memories of the Ding Darling refuge on Sanibel.
by Liz Cifani