Nesting Seabirds!
Yesterday my class went on a field trip with two professors who are working on a project to protect the local nesting seabirds on the beach. Needless to say, I was ecstatic.
After a short hike across the sugar sand, we came across flocks of hundreds of birds. Black Skimmers, Wilson's Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers, Marbled Godwits and Least Terns swarmed the beach. I had never seen so many birds of different species grouped together such as they were.
The professors led us out to a tidal pool of knee-deep water so we could get closer to the colonies. The whole time, I was simply amazed at what I was seeing. Four of the species I saw in the first few minutes were life birds!
How many different species can you see in the above picture?
Above is a black-bellied plover sitting near a tidal pool with several different species of birds in the background.
I had never seen a godwit before yesterday (even though they're supposed to be fairly common around here) so I was really excited to see groups of them clustered around on the beach.
Tons of birds! According to the professors, there are only 5 species that nest on the beaches in our county, a couple of which are endangered or threatened.
I have seen pictures of Black Skimmers lying on the ground before, but it was still startling to come upon a colony of them laying there looking dead! I learned that there are approximately 2,000 breeding pairs of Black Skimmers in FL.
I just thought this was a cool picture, with the lighthouse in the background... :-)
Other things I learned:
After a short hike across the sugar sand, we came across flocks of hundreds of birds. Black Skimmers, Wilson's Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers, Marbled Godwits and Least Terns swarmed the beach. I had never seen so many birds of different species grouped together such as they were.
The professors led us out to a tidal pool of knee-deep water so we could get closer to the colonies. The whole time, I was simply amazed at what I was seeing. Four of the species I saw in the first few minutes were life birds!
How many different species can you see in the above picture?
Above is a black-bellied plover sitting near a tidal pool with several different species of birds in the background.
I had never seen a godwit before yesterday (even though they're supposed to be fairly common around here) so I was really excited to see groups of them clustered around on the beach.
Tons of birds! According to the professors, there are only 5 species that nest on the beaches in our county, a couple of which are endangered or threatened.
I have seen pictures of Black Skimmers lying on the ground before, but it was still startling to come upon a colony of them laying there looking dead! I learned that there are approximately 2,000 breeding pairs of Black Skimmers in FL.
I just thought this was a cool picture, with the lighthouse in the background... :-)Other things I learned:
- There are 216 pairs of Snowy Plover in FL
- 400 pairs of oystercatchers
- 12,000 pairs of Least Terns in the country
- And 500 pairs of Wilson's Plover in Florida
(I believe I have got all this data right; if you see any inaccuracies, please let me know. My notes are not always very legible...)
My bird list for the day:
- Black Skimmer
- American Oystercatcher
- Wilson's Plover
- Red Knot
- Ruddy Turnstone
- Willet
- Marbled Godwit
- Laughing Gull
- Least Tern
- Royal Tern
- Osprey
- Black-bellied Plover
- Monk Parakeet
- Mockingbird
- Mourning Dove
It was an amazing trip. I am definitely going to try and get involved in some sort of bird project while I'm here in college and I want to check out that beach again sometime to see what other species are out there.
Happy birding!
Labels: birding, life bird, year birds
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home