Ten members of Citrus County Audubon attended our field trip to Ft. Island beach on Friday, December 10. The morning started out mild and sunny and ended up quite warm. Upon arriving at the beach area, we were greeted by about 2000 gulls. Mostly Laughing Gulls, with maybe 100 Ring-billed Gulls thrown in as well as a few Herring Gulls. On the north jetty were the usual Ruddy Turnstones and Royal Terns but with them were 12 American Oystercatchers. At both far ends of the beach were some Willets and just two Short-billed Dowitchers. On each of the buoys was perched a Royal Tern. We spotted just one Forster’s Tern on the rope. As we walked the beach we identified Sanderlings, Least Sandpipers, Dunlin, and Semipalmated Plovers. When we got to the south end of the beach, we had 250 Skimmers and two Black-bellied Plovers in winter plumage. In the water beyond the south jetty, we spotted a Horned Grebe. In the marsh were a couple of Marsh Wrens and a Clapper Rail calling. All totaled we found 49 species. The best birds were found at the end of our walk. We spotted a Seaside Sparrow, a Sora, a Swamp Sparrow and a Black and White Warbler. It was a very good day for birding; many of our group said how much they enjoyed the field trip.
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