My Life’s Birds: #220
June 16, 1994 – Captiva Island, Fl – When you’re on a family vacation you can’t bird all the time. Unless you’re one of those weird families that birds together, and I’m told such families are few and far between, it’s hard to convince non-birding family members that it’s such a great idea to rise before dawn to fit in that one extra trip to the sewage treatment plant. That, certainly, is not the reason normal people go on vacation, and certainly not to Florida, land of sun, surf, and sand.
But if you’re lucky and aware, birds show up anyway. And if you’re really lucky, or more likely just a newbie, lifers can show up anywhere. That’s how I, on our way to dinner, spotted a Royal Tern on the causeway between Sannibel and Captiva Islands from the car. I know they’re not difficult to find on any eastern beach, but for me, it was notable. Even if half the occupants in the car were more interested at that point in seafood that seabirds.
See, sometimes you just have to sneak that birding in.
photo from wikipedia
Comments are closed.
Royal Tern – Royal Concern.
Well, no big miss as I have never really birded the NA Atlantic coast, but it still hurts to have never seen one (as it does with any bird species I have not seen yet).
How about you show me some after we have had close encounters with all three coastal Ammodramus sparrows, clapper and black rails and that stray NC Spoonbilled Sandpiper?
Sounds like the plan for a good day out.
Black Rail? That sounds like a great day out.
It’s a plan, but I hope you haven’t set unreasonably high expectations or anything…
Look, I didn’t go for an Eskimo Curlew, so I think I was rather modest in setting my expectations.