Sunday, July 8, 2012

Birding at the Beach

The "swimming in the surf" beach goer
Royal tern
Spending the day at the beach is a great way to spend a summer day! Not only is it a great place to soak up some rays (but don't forget your sunscreen), frolic in the salty sea, and build your dream sandcastle, but it's a great place to go bird watching!

The state of Florida has just over 650 miles of beaches along its shores, so naturally there is a plethora of great places to go beach birding. Most folks tend to take birds on the beach for granted, but not birders, they appreciate the tremendous variety of birds that can be found there.

For today's post I decided to highlight some of my favorite beach birds in a fun parallel to the variety of beach goers I also observe here in central Florida. Here are a few of my favorites...

The beach goer that makes a grand entrance
Great Blue Heron
The "graceful yoga posing" beach goer
Royal Tern
The "good steward"  beach goer that picks up all the trash
Laughing Gull
The beach goer that enjoys fishing in the surf
Reddish Egret
The rambunctious beach going siblings that love to chase one another
Laughing Gulls
The "make a quick fly-by to check the surf " beach goer
Osprey
The "I'm resting, please do not disturb me" beach goer
Brown pelican
The "sunrise observing" beach goer
Willet
The "speed walking" beach goer
Ring-billed Gull
The "hanging with group" beach goers
Royal terns
Lastly, I'll leave you with a few of my top dos and don'ts (yes, they are common sense for bird lovers) for birding at the beach

~ Do arrive early or late as the birds are most active at sunrise and sunset

~Don't feed the birds! Not only is unhealthy for birds to consume human food, it can also lead to aggression and dependency on humans

~Do report your sightings to ebird

~Don't allow children to chase the birds, you can only the imagine the energy these birds expend while trying to rest

~Do take all your trash with you. Curious birds may try to consume dangerous items, while other birds may be injured by items left behind

Tammy Karr
www.iheartfloridabirds.blogspot.com

13 comments:

  1. Great captures! The Great Blue Heron is my favourite! Have a nice day.

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  2. I love birding at the beach! Fun, wonderful post filled with outstanding photographs! I smiled scrolling all the way through. The Royal Tern "yoga posing" image is a work of art. Fabulous post, Tammy!

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  3. Fun post Tammy. I can totally see the human equivalents to your birds. Great tips too!

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  4. Maravillosas fotos de aves en la playa.Saludos

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  5. Love this theme Tammy, and lovely shots too. Your Florida beaches seem to have all the types. I think they might demand a visit next year...

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  6. The photos are terrific, Tammy, and the captions made me smile. The birds look so cool - I wished I could join them in the water!

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  7. wow - some fabulous photos here! Great captures; looks like you two get out and about and enjoy nature's bounty in its abundance; well done!

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  8. Delightful post, Tammy!! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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  9. Love the Pelican image Tammy, nicely done!

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  10. Tammy, what a creative post! I love all the pictures! You did a great job and made me smile as well! I need to get to the beach!

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  11. Wow, if that's just a taste of those 650 miles - what a special environment that is!

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  12. Thank you so much kind comments!

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  13. I love this post Tammy and I wish I could walk right into many of the wonderful images and get into the water. It is supposed to be 103 degrees here today and I know that water would feel awesome.

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