In addition, their long necks give them a better view of their prey. Most have long legs and toes for wading and long (sometimes curved) beaks for feeding. They love shallow water and frequent lakes, ponds, marshes, wetlands, and streams. You might also like to try the Great Florida Birding & Wildlife Trail, a 2,000-mile driving tour connecting 492 great birding hot spots.Have you seen white, long-beaked birds in your neighborhood? Maybe a pair of tall birds out for a stroll, or a massive grey bird flying overhead? All these birds are considered wading birds. Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.Fort Myers Beach (lagoon and mud flats by the Holiday Inn).A few places that are especially good for Florida beach birding: In Florida, many of our seabirds are migratory and can be seen in greater abundance during fall and winter migration. A great place to watch pelicans and herons is on any pier with fishermen. Many of Florida's shorebirds, egrets and herons are even active after dark and can be seen on the beach during a full moon. Mornings and evenings are particularly good times to watch birds, since they are most active during those times. You can find Florida’s beautiful seabirds on any beach or bay shoreline, or in and around mangrove trees, seawalls and piers. Most fishing piers have posted instructions for dealing with hooked birds. Seek help if the bird seems to be in distress, but you can release it otherwise. You may need to push the point through the skin and cut off the barb before you can extract the hook. Cover the bird's eyes with a light towel, cloth or shirt to help calm the bird, then gently remove the hook. If you hook a bird while fishing, very gently reel in the bird. If in doubt, alert the authorities mentioned above. Your presence may prevent the parent birds from returning with food. If you see baby seabirds on the beach that seem to be abandoned, do not approach them. They can contact local bird rescue volunteers, who are trained to capture and transport injured or sick seabirds. Contact the local beach patrol, lifeguard, park rangers or other authorities. If you encounter a bird that appears to be injured, do not try to rescue it yourself. You’ll see willets in small flocks, alone or in pairs. With a relatively long bill, long legs and gray body, a willet is fairly easy to pick out, especially when mingling with sanderlings and dowitchers. One of the larger Florida shorebirds is the willet. You’ll see them in flocks of 100 or more at times. They have a long, thin bill and are usually gray or light brown in color, depending on the time of year. You'll see them, usually in groups of a dozen or fewer, scurrying on tiny legs ahead of surging waves.ĭowitchers also frequent the shoreline, but are larger and run less than sanderlings. A black bill, jet black eyes and speedy black legs give them away. When humans approach, shorebirds will often run away rather than take flight.Īt slightly more than six inches in length, one of the smallest Florida shorebirds is the sanderling. Find them on the beach near the water's edge, looking for food by probing the wet sand with their bills. Sanderlings, dowitchers and willets are shorebirds. In between is the Forster's tern, which dons a black cap and orange-red bill. It has a yellow bill, black cap and white forehead. The smallest tern is named, appropriately, the Least tern. The largest terns are the Royal tern, with an orange bill, and the Caspian tern, with a blood-red bill. Terns will hover briefly over the water, 10 to 30 feet in the air, and then dive gracefully to catch a fish. They have a lighter, more buoyant flight with sleeker, narrower bodies and wings, forked tails and very sharp beaks. Terns look a lot like gulls – gray above, white below – but they are a separate species.
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