I think these fellows are adorable! The little feathers tufting up on the backs of their heads makes me think of little old balding men. They just need tweed jackets.

Sanderling, at least I think that’s what he is. I love his reflection in the water too.

A Laughing Gull laughing at me. lol

Yellowlegs or Willet?  I’m really bad at identifying these birds.

I loved chasing bigger birds with my lens while in Florida.  The challenge of Wisconsin bird is that most of the ones I see are small and they’re very flighty.

Hosted by Cecily

But, as you can see, this gull seemed as intrigued with me as I was with him.  Now I suppose he could be a juvenile Herring Gull, but due to the time of year, I’m assuming this is a Ring-Billed Gull in his winter plumage.

I think this is a Tern, in my little book I thought it looked like the Least Tern, but the book shows it being in Florida in the summer (not winter) and that it’s endangered – so I really am not sure.  I love its little scissortail, lol.

It’s a petite little thing, whatever it is.

Seems I keep using the gulls for a size comparison, but there were a lot of gulls everywhere so they make convenient rulers.  I love shorebirds!

As we were walking along the beach we stumbled, almost literally, across this feeding flyer. I think you can tell he’s pretty small if you look at the size of shells against him.

As is typical of many of the birds I came across in Florida, I was clueless as to his name. I thought he looked a lot like a killdeer so I was assuming he was in the plover family.

Well I finally put an identity to him. He’s a Ruddy Turnstone, aka Rock Plover. According to my bird book they can be very tolerant of humans when feeding and that was the case here.

I was astonished at how close I was allowed to get!

Bye!

I think I need to spend more time on the beach. ;0) I love how his eye is closed here. It seems dreamy.

So, I think he’s too big to be a Spotted Sandpiper but I’m not really sure what he is. Any ideas?

Have a closer look.

Slightly smaller than a gull, but not as small as a sandpiper.

I think he’s cute no matter what he is.

Tiny Sandpiper.

Remarkable how similar their colors are and structure, almost look like a mom and a babe but I don’t think they are.

Some sort of Tern?

You know I love birds, right? I hope you do too, because I have tons of bird photos from our Florida trip! This Ring-billed Gull looks just like the gulls I see up in Wisconsin. But I couldn’t resist him anyway.

Some sort of sandpiper – the pipers totally intrigued me. They are so small and active!

See, tiny! The gull looks like a giant compared to him! The Ring-billed stands 19″ tall with a 4′ wingspan.

La-ti-da-ti-da, I’m just walking along. . .

Looks like Mr Gull found a snail for a snack.

Laughing Gull was laughing, lol.

The pipers run toward the water, eating something deep in the sand and then run away from the incoming waves.  They were very fun to watch!

While I was caught up in birds, the guys were seeking treasures of a different kind.

I got temporarily distracted by things washed ashore.

But it wasn’t long until the birds stole my attention once more.

I was happy to find some Laughing Gulls at the beach, their sound always cracks me up (we had them in Corpus Christi when we lived there), such funny birds!

But I didn’t know what this little guy was. I had to buy a Florida Birds book so I could figure some of my mysteries out. I think this is a Spotted Sandpiper.

He searched the beach for food. The sun kept going behind clouds, shadows, sun, ugh!

He amazed me that he just strutted right by, allowing me to snap some photos. I think he looks like a great crane, like a huge regal bird, but check this out. . .

I snapped this just to remember his size. He’s not huge at all, he’s smaller than the laughing gull! According to my book the gull is 16-17″ tall with up to a 3.5′ wingspan! Impressive!