Seeing shorebirds by the seashore in St. Augustine
Roger Simmons,
They are so many shorebirds found in Florida that it’s often hard for me to tell them apart. Fortunately that wasn’t the case back in mid-April during my weekend in St. Augustine.
On an Easter morning visit to St. Augustine Beach, adjacent to the Anastasia State Park beach, I came across some pretty recognizable shorebirds: terns, plovers and pelicans, to name a few.
A large swath of the beach dunes were roped off for shorebird breeding, though I wasn’t able to see any in that area. But I was happy to be able to photograph these shorebirds.
Royal Tern, St. Augustine Beach, April 2025.Immature Royal Tern, St. Augustine Beach, April 2025.Royal Tern, St. Augustine Beach, April 2025.Least Tern, St. Augustine Beach, April 2025.Least Tern, St. Augustine Beach, April 2025.Wilson’s Plover, St. Augustine Beach, April 2025.Banded Wilson’s Plover, St. Augustine Beach, April 2025.Banded Wilson’s Plover, St. Augustine Beach, April 2025.Brown Pelicans, St. Augustine Beach, April 2025.Sanderling, St. Augustine Beach, April 20265Laughing Gulls, St. Augustine Beach, April 2025.Laughing Gull, St. Augustine Beach, April 2025.
On a trip to the wildlife preserve, I came across some old favorites as well as three new-to-me birds: A female American Redstart, an Eastern Phoebe and a Least Flycatcher.
Some baby Sandhill Cranes hatched late last week at Orlando Wetlands Park. The two-day-old birds were the focus of lots of attention – not just from their parents.
