For years I have cursed while tossing the covers to cool down during a hot flash. These past few nights, cuddled in our fairly warm bed inside a 37-42 degree van, I waited and prayed for a flash to give me the extra warmth I needed for a middle of the night dash to the restroom and to dress for the day in my miserably cold clothing.
January 10th FORT DESOTO PARK, FL- We had heard that this was a great place to add species to our list… perhaps in better weather. In spite of the cold and wind, we added 5 species, and enjoyed a nice Florida beach walk.
Fort De Soto Park
Common Loon
This county park was voted Florida’s top beach in 2005, and we could certainly see why. Such a well maintained and designed area with a seemingly successful mix of high use yet fairly adequate protections. In a brilliant move to keep the inevitability of visitor’s dogs from disturbing wildlife, they provide a specific fenced dog park and an isolated beach area for them.
January 11th CEDAR KEY. Since Chuck had done the Cedar Key Christmas Bird Count with Ron Christian just a few weeks ago, he knew where the supposedly last single Scrub Jay in the area was located. Before dawn, we were at the edge of the Cedar Key Scrub State Park waiting and hoping to hear him hop up on a snag and call.
Cedar Key Dawn
We watched dawn pink over the scrub, but a typical Scrub Jay habitat is 25 acres, and we were allowed viewing access only along the road. Of course the Red Shouldered Hawk we noticed as we were leaving, poised in a tree a bit further down the road, may have motivated the Scrub Jay’s discretion. After an hour, we moved on to Cedar Key and spent the rest of the day birding that area. Only two new species added in yet another cold and windy day. On to Little Talbot Island which is expected to be…cold and windy!
January 12th & 13th. We camped at LITTLE TALBOT ISLAND STATE PARK, FL. Even colder (for these spoiled Floridians) on top of rainy, so that we didn’t even try to bird Little Talbot the next morning, but instead hopped in the van and went to Starbucks! Here we took time to make future plans and reservations and then decided to try FORT CLINCH where we knew that the Purple Sandpiper had been spotted off the pier. We searched and searched, found 4 new species including a Black Scoter, met up Ruddy Turnstones begging for their pictures to be taken,
Ruddy Turnstone
and just as we were leaving, scanned a small group of hunkered down Ruddy Turnstones and sanderlings and there it was- the lone Purple Sandpiper. Feeling victorious, we headed back to the campground to hunker down ourselves.
Little Talbot Island State Park
The next morning, Little Talbot Island Beach was so foggy that we could see less than 150 feet in front of ourselves, but it was still obvious that we were seeing the beautifully classic wide and flat sandy Florida beaches. Tough to bird, but we were not to be skunked that day since we had a Great Horned Owl calling as we woke, and we were able to identify one new species of Gull, a Bonaparte’s Gull. Since Little Talbot Island was so miserable we went back to Fort Clinch to try for the Surf Scoter we missed but had no luck with that one. In a pull off on the way though, we were able to hear Clapper Rails calling.
Hoping for better weather further north (really?) we headed for Fort McAllister State Historic Park in Georgia to overnight on our way to South Carolina.