BLACK SKIMMERS ON A SAND BAR & IN FLIGHT, BUNCHE BEACH PRESERVE/SAN CARLOS BAY, FT. MYERS BEACH, FL

   In the first four photos you can see the molting process of the Black Skimmers from their nonbreeding plumage, where the nape is white or gray, to the breeding plumage, where the nape is completely black and connects the black crown to the black back.  The skimmers in the first two photos have white napes; in the third photo the nape is mostly black with a narrow white band.  The top right skimmer in the fourth photo has a completly black nape.

   The Black Skimmers were crowded onto several sandbars in San Carlos Bay near Bunche Beach.  There were terns and gulls mixed in with them.  One of these sandbars is shown in the ninth and last photo.  Several times during our observation of these birds something spooked them (we couldn't determine what) and they all flew into the air.  Eventually they settled back onto the sandbars.  These flying Black Skimmers are shown in photos five to eight.

NONBREEDING ROYAL TERNS, BUNCHE BEACH PRESERVE/SAN CARLOS BAY, FT. MYERS BEACH, FL

   The terns with the black legs are nonbreeding Royal Terns.  You can differentiate them from Caspian Terns from their white forehead.  In Caspian Terns the forehead is never white, it is either black or dusky.

NONBREEDING BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, BUNCHE BEACH PRESERVE/SAN CARLOS BAY, FT. MYERS BEACH, FL

   We can identify this plover as a nonbreeding Black-bellied Plover, rather than the very similar American Golden-Plover, by its white belly, its pale cap that contrasts only slightly with the white eyebrow and its finely streaked breast.

BREEDING LAUGHING GULL IN FLIGHT & IN WATER, BUNCHE BEACH PRESERVE/SAN CARLOS BAY, FT. MYERS BEACH, FL

MARBLED GODWITS, BUNCHE BEACH PRESERVE/SAN CARLOS BAY, FT. MYERS BEACH, FL

   We can ID these sandpipers as Marbled Godwits as follows:

• Large sandpiper with a very long slightly upturned bill.
• Overall cinnamon color.
• Bill is pink with black at the end.
• Black legs.

WILLET IN FLIGHT & ON BEACH, BUNCHE BEACH PRESERVE/SAN CARLOS BAY, FT. MYERS BEACH, FL

   In the first photo you can see the distinctive wing pattern of the willet in flight: a bold white wing stripe on each black wing.  Also you can see the white rump with a gray tail.  In the second photo of the willet on the beach you can ID it by its drab gray above and white below, its gray bill with black ends and its gray legs.

RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, BUNCHE BEACH PRESERVE, FT. MYERS BEACH, FL