Black-bellied Plover, 59/150

I love love love the Black-bellied plover, one of the first I learned to identify . . . because we live in South Florida - we see the winter plumage - they are beginning to get their breeding colors now - and off they go. Black-bellied plovers breed in the high Arctic of North American and Eurasia.

http://www.goldenrod.org/bird_migration_map/bird_migration_map.html

Snowy Plover, 58/150

Uncommon and local on sandy beaches. Pale gray upperparts, drab gray legs, thin bill, and smudgy dark eye-line, and extremely adorable!!

Short-billed Dowitcher, 57/150

I was able to walk into the lagoon during low tide and capture some images of the shorebirds up close. I love the way the light is hitting the bill here and his feathers are just beautiful~

Red Knot, 56/150

I continue to have a little bit of a difficult time identifying the Dowitcher, Dunlin, Willet,  and Red Knot.  I posted this one on my FB page, and an expert identified it as a Red Knot.  I took this image a cold, windy, late afternoon in January.  I do love all the shore birds I get to photograph in Florida :-)

Interesting facts:
On nonbreeding plumage, note barred flanks. Salmon and gray breeding plumage distinctive (which I will probably never see)

Semipalmated Plover, 55/150

This is the same Plover, same day, same beach, Fort De Soto in January.

Interesting Facts: Common and most numerous small plover. Most slender and darkest small plover. Note dark brown upperside, dark cheek and orange legs.

Lesser Black-backed Gull, 54/150

I spotted this Lesser Black-backed gull in January on my way back from Bear Cut Preserve in Miami.  I wanted to drive through the parking lot before I jumped on the Rickenbacker to scout out a good sunset spot, when I saw this big boy.  So, naturally, I pulled over, jumped out and took a few quick images before he took off.

Interesting facts:

Uncommon and rare visitor from Europe, small numbers found with other large gulls.

Killdeer, 53/150

This beautiful Killdeer was posing for me @ Merritt Island a few months ago.  He was on the opposite site of all the Spoonie and Avocet action, and I barely spotted him, he was just finished fluffing up, then took off~

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Leucistic Reddish Egret

After some research, this, I believe, is the offspring of a Reddish and a White Morph, a stray white morph feather, a Leucistic Reddish Egret.

He was dancing and prancing and was extremely friendly.  There were some children with fishing nets and "Lou" here went right up to investigate their catch repeatedly.

I used my 70-200mm, 2.8, with a 2X extender, and I am quite pleased with it's focusing abilities.

The water was very shallow as you can see, and the Egret put on a show, and I had a front row seat!

These images were taken on Fort Meyers Beach area.

Best show ever!

Belted Kingfisher

 North American kingfishers are fish-eating birds found on sheltered water. They hover over open water before plunge-diving headfirst to capture small fish.

 When I drive across Alligator Alley, I often see many kingfishers on the telephone wires on my drive.

Dark blue-gray above and mostly white collar below, shaggy crest and large bill.

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Western Sandpiper, Shorebirds♡

I am learning my shorebirds, albeit, one by one. This is a Western Sandpiper, and I found him on Fort Meyers beach.  At first I thought he was a Black-bellied, then I looked again and noticed that rather long beak.  It is also similar to the Semipalmated Sandpiper, but slightly larger, and with a slightly longer and more drooping bill~

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