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Sunday, February 28, 2016

Beach & Birds

On Friday, February 12, our last day in Florida, the temperature rose to about 70 degrees (21 Celsius). The wind was blowing, though, causing us to seek shelter behind some rocks at Fred Howard Beach. As you can see by the following pictures, others had the same idea.

The first picture was taken half an hour or so after we'd arrived at the beach, when we realized the beach area was shrinking as the tide was coming in.


The following picture was taken about 20 minutes later, and you can see that the beach area was shrinking fast.


It wasn't long before we had to find another place to sit and read. The tide was coming in there, too, of course; but it was a broader expanse of beach, giving us a better chance of being able to stay longer without getting our feet wet.


Because there was more shore at our new location, there were more shore birds to distract me from my reading.

Willet
 The next three pictures feature a Marbled Godwit, which was a new one for me. A gorgeous bird.




I included this last picture so you could see how deeply one of the Marbled Gotwits was plunging its bill into the mud in search of food. I read that they sometimes probe so deeply that the whole head is under water.

It was a fun day at the beach, the best of the whole week. The incoming tide never reached us, leaving plenty of shallow water to entice several shore birds to feed in the shallows. And the Marbled Godwits were the icing on the cake.


9 comments:

  1. I'm glad you were able to enjoy the beach (and the birds) so much in February. What a great way to combat Winter Blues.

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  2. 21°C sounds nice and the blue sky looks wonderful, it seems that despite the wind, it was a nice day. I can see that the tide was coming in really quickly, it's interesting to watch its progress in your photos. Those captures of the birds are lovely!

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  3. Watching the birds while enjoying the beach sounds perfect to me.Great pictures.

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  4. I love those big white sandy beaches, as well as those bird images. They are perfectly captured. Good to see you post again. Best wishes.

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  5. Thanks, Tex. It was a real treat to see them.

    You're right about that, George!

    Petra - The trip did provide a nice winter break, and the sunshine was wonderful in spite of the cool temperatures. We found the tide fascinating. We hadn't experienced it on previous trips.

    Thanks, Ruth. It WAS perfect...or nearly so.

    Thank you, Mersad. It was a fun get-away.

    Thanks, Marcie. We really enjoyed the break from our northern winter.

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  6. Wow.. you've been enjoying lovely times. Those birds are elegant. I'm glad they distracted you from reading. ;)

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