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!

Thanx to Kayleen for helping to identify this fellow as a Reddish Egret!

I saw a plethora of birds on our trip to Florida – many I had never seen before and most very accommodating. But this fellow was the first in the parade of birds so I thought he deserved a post of his own. He strutted down the beach and let me snap away – it was early morning, light not the best, kind of cloudy. I believe he’s a type of Heron, but not sure which kind?

Pelicans flew over as we left this beach. I did see more of them, and closer, but we’ll get to them eventually. I hope you like birds, I have a buttload of them to share, lol.

Things have been a little crazy around here lately – that happens sometimes, it’s in the name, “chaos”, duh! – and I feel like I’ve been somewhat neglectful of my blog and my bloggy friends and I’m very sorry for that but I also think it’s going to continue for a couple more weeks.

The tufted titmouse from yesterday and these birds here were taken a couple of weeks ago at my parents’ house in Missouri – it was an impromptu trip, long story, but anyway, this female cardinal seemed a little different shade than the others, more yellow(?), I liked her colors!

They are such regal looking birds! But back to the chaos, we had our quick trip to Missouri, Oklahoma and back, Camp Angel all last weekend (such a great program!), trying to help a dear friend with wedding planning (they are marrying April 10th and I’m matron of honor – still trying to figure out how to hold my bouquet and the camera, maybe I’ll just strap them together), trying to keep up with my photo-a-day diary (hard copy, not electronic, but I’ll post all about that at some point, promise), diet/exercise/frustration/lack of motivation (ps I have posted over at our weight blog), and I’m sure there’s more, but, drum roll please. . .

We’ll be leaving towards the end of next week for Florida! Yay, warmth! But, I’m also going crazy with all the pre-trip what-not’s. While I’m gone Macro Monday will be on semi-autopilot, but that’s about all that will be here, I will post my photo a day via facebook (link to me at the bottom of the page) like I did for our Maine vacation.

So, please know, I’m not turning my back on you, I love you all! Things will calm back down, just a little time – ps, did I mention that I’ll be swimming with manatees on my birthday (Feb 8th)?! Fun!

Hopefully, I’ll make it back from the trip relaxed and refreshed and ready to take on the world. :0)