Lovers Key SP 12/13--Rare Duck

Photo: Shari Zirlin

We went farther south onto a barrier beach--we could have been in New Jersey in the summer--and stopped at Lovers Key State Park. Sanibel is famous for those who like to go shelling, but it has been pretty much picked over. You can't help but pick up shells when you walk on these beaches and at Bunche Beach Shari noticed that the shells were more interesting and here on Lovers Key she really went to town, filling the net pockets of my backpack with dozens and dozens of varieties. None of which I could tell you what they were.

Meanwhile, I looked for birds and was finding little of interest--how quickly we get jaded to huge pterodactyl-like birds flying by. I was looking out at the gulf when I spotted a lone duck. I put the scope on it and immediately saw the big yellow-orange knobbed bill and knew I had a Black Scoter. Ken had seen one there earlier in the week. A Black Scoter is certainly not a rare bird in NJ in winter but it is in Florida. This year they've been reporting a lot of them down there, so the ducks must be following the food. The scoter is the only rarity we found on the vacation. In my hierarchy of "rare" it is #3--rare for the area. Two digiscoped documentary photos:

I can look into the Gulf of Mexico and find a lone duck, but I still never found Blue-winged Teal, despite our last stop at Lakes Regional Park in Fort Myers. And that's what makes birding so...interesting. 

14 species

Black Scoter  1    Black duck with orange bill.
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Brown Pelican  20
Great Blue Heron  1
Great Egret  2
Snowy Egret  1
Turkey Vulture  25
Osprey  1
Willet  1
Laughing Gull  10
Ring-billed Gull  5
Caspian Tern  1
Royal Tern  1
Sandwich Tern  5