Shorebirds and Shades of Blue

Today was a shorebird survey day near Opal Beach. As usual, the water was just this side of paradise -- it almost made me want to go for a swim!



The pavilions are battered by hurricanes over the past several years, but they are doing remarkably well!



Not many birds were about today though -- it seems they were smarter than I am, and they sought shelter from the chill wind. There were some trusty SNPLs (snowy plovers) on the north shore...



along with a DUNL (dunlin) or two, but it was fairly quiet.

The good thing about this cold weather is that it's preventing the fall red tide bloom from getting out of control, and it should keep any late season storms at bay. See, there is a silver lining in everything!

Bird Surveys at Fort Pickens

I've been bad about both downloading photos and posting lately. These will all be short posts today, but it's a little more up to date. The birds are so neglected these days!



Jill helped me with a north shore PIPL survey at Fort Pickens. It struck us both that this Great Blue Heron was very dark!



In better light, it wasn't so stark, but it still seems closer to gray-black than blue.



We couldn't decide if this was a Lesser Yellowlegs or a Phalarope. The lighting was not on our side Friday, and if we moved for better advantage, we would have scared the birds away. Frustrating!