Florida - Honeymoon Island

Today we decided on a day on a beach on the Gulf Coast. It was warm in the high eighties and following a drive of an hour and a half over to Tampa and Dunedin we settled onto the fantastic white-sand beach at Honeymoon Island.

Offshore were feeding Forster’s, Sandwich and Royal Terns along with the ubiquitous Laughing Gulls in their winter plumage. The sandy beach stretched to the north for two miles or more and I strolled for part of the way seeing Willet, Turnstone, Knot, Black-bellied Plover, Sanderling and Hudsonian Whimbrel in the surf line.

Osprey were common fishing offshore and a single Northern Harrier flew through scattering the Red-winged Blackbirds that were feeding in the grassy dunes. A fearless Green Heron allowed me to approach to within a few feet and my first Brown Pelicans were seen offshore. The hoped for Magnificant Frigatebirds were absent however.