A Quiet Saturday at De Soto
Fort De Soto Park is most often a very productive place to visit, but this Saturday the birding was surprisingly slow.
I arrived at North Beach this morning at 8am. Weather was very nice, skies were clear, with temperatures in the low 70s. On the beach access trail there is a large Osprey nest in a tree to the left of the trail. One of the adults was perched in a tree to the right of the trail picking apart a fish. I took a few shots, then decided to see what was on the beach.
Osprey. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR lens at 600mm, f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 250.
A few Fish Crows came to visit the Osprey to help him eat the fish. The Osprey would not oblige though and the Fish Crows soon left. I knew when I took this photo I wanted to make it a B&W and I like the way it turned out.
Osprey & Fish Crows. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR lens at 310mm, f/6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 280.
Walking out onto the beach there were a handful of plovers and three Willet wading in the lagoon. I walked down the beach for about 30 minutes, hoping a Reddish, a Snowy, a Pelican - anything - would fly in. But nothing did. It was pretty dead out there.
I decided to walk down to the American Oystercatcher area. There I saw AE and Archie hanging out in their roped off area. They were on the far side of the enclosure and photographing them would have meant staying where I was and shooting across a long distance, or walking over to the other side of the enclosure and shooting into the light. I decided neither was a good option, so I left.
I drove down to the East Beach picnic area where I saw large groups of Palm Warblers and Yellow-rumped Warblers on the ground eating insects. I noticed one particularly bright yellow bird mixed in - a Pine Warbler.
Pine Warbler. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2500 sec, ISO 1000.
Yellow-rumped Warbler. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2500 sec, ISO 400.
In the brush next to parking lot exit I noticed a Black-and-white Warbler. I didn’t get a shot on that bird, but a White-eyed Vireo popped out. He was hopping quickly between trees so I didn’t get many shots. The best one was this one, but it’s not ideal because he was in deep shade (notice the high ISO) and the bill is turned away from me.
White-eyed Vireo. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2000 sec, ISO 11,400.
I drove down to the east beach turnaround but the birds were gone because there were a dozen kite surfers in the water. I then drove to the ranger’s house. It was severely damaged during Hurricane Milton and no one is living in it now. There’s no electricity either, which means the water fountain isn’t running off electricity. Someone drove a pole in the ground next to the fountain and mounted a solar panel which provides power to a small water pump in the fountain. I was hoping for a Prothonotary or an Indigo Bunting being attracted to the fountain, but the only thing that showed up was a single Fish Crow and a Palm Warbler.
On my way out I saw a few more Palms on the ground and I took this photo. By this point it was 10:30 and light was getting awfully harsh. I called it a morning.
Palm Warbler. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 400.
After last weekend’s birding extravaganza, I was a little disappointed in today’s turnout. That’s the way it goes sometimes. Slow days make you appreciate the awesome days even more. Still, the weather was delightful and I had a nice time.
Tomorrow I am going to Circle B.
Happy birding!
