Banded Spoonbill at Bunche Beach

A trip to the beach for some wildlife photography this week was made fortuitously in the late afternoon.

The Great Blue Heron above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

An unusual opportunity it was with fair weather as afternoon thunderstorms have been quite the norm this month.

With even more good fortune there was a very accommodating low tide in San Carlos Bay late in the day about an hour after my arrival.

The White Ibis juvenile above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

Bird activity was extremely sparse over the great expanse of the mudflats exposed in the bay as I walked toward the west channel.

The iridescence seen in the tips of the primary feathers of a juvenile ibis was welcome.

The Wilson's Plover above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

Wilson's Plover that were in numbers less than a couple of dozen were almost difficult to distinguish as they were very well camouflaged.

Upon my approach to the channel I was quite surprised by an adult visitor to Bunche Beach Preserve running on relatively high ground alongside the channel toward the bay.

The Snowy Egret juvenile above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

A child's behavior doing the same would have been more understandable.

I was too far away to distinguish what bird species in all were harassed into flight.

The White Ibis above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

Upon my arrival at the channel, a Great Blue Heron standing at its edge kept a close eye on me as I carefully made my away around it to have the sun behind me to the extent I considered acceptable.

There were at this point in time about 60 White Ibis feeding in the exposed sea grass on the east side of the channel with a few dozen more of the species working eight inch deep water on the west side.

The White Ibis above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

These birds appeared to be for the most part second summer juveniles with very few adults (indicated by brighter red coloration of the bill and legs) and first summer ibis (dark brown feathers overall) among them.

I would end up devoting a lot of time and effort in attempting to photograph these birds successfully in flight as they made there way back and forth over the channel.

The White Ibis above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

There were during my visit a total of what I believe to be eight distinct Roseate Spoonbill that would come and go.

At one point I was quite surprised to see that one of the birds was banded.

The Roseate Spoonbill above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

This was a highlight of the trip as banded birds of any species are very rarely observed.

I was captivated by the large distinctive blue band on the spoonbill's upper right leg that had the designation "AO."

The Great Blue Heron above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

The bird after further observation was noted to have a small metal band on its lower left leg as well.

It's with regret that I was not close enough to the bird to be able to crop an image to see the engraving on the metal band offering further details about the bird's history.

The Roseate Spoonbill above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

A 30MP camera as Canon's next generation of technology rumored to offer might allow an informative cropping of an image when a similar opportunity arises in the field again.

I have found personal research on the subject of banding to offer virtually no relevant information as to a bird's history unless the sighting is reported.

The White Ibis with Roseate Spoonbill above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

And with surprise, as a testimonial of my last reporting of a banded bird, it led to the inquiry of me for further information weeks after its report.

Well, leave it to me to deduce that the letters AO on the spoonbill's band possibly represent Avocational Ornithologists.

The Roseate Spoonbill above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

Most likely a wrong conclusion as further research led me to Dr. Ann Hodgson at the Florida Coastal Island Sanctuaries Office.

I've sent her an email in anticipation of a reply with details about the banded spoonbill's sighting.

The fisherman above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

It was at the Florida Ornithological Society website that I discovered that banding of spoonbills to the north in Tampa Bay is made with red bands while birds captured and banded in Florida Bay have yellow, white, gray, blue or black bands (an effort begun in 2003).

Each of the colored bands placed on a Roseate Spoonbill is noted as distinctive and jives with my sighting as the band was observed on the bird's upper right leg as is protocol for banding of spoonbills by Audubon of Florida on the bird's tibia, or mid leg.

The Roseate Spoonbill above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

Although I thought I had observed the colored band on the spoonbill from angles that would allow a view of numbers as indicated by the Audubon website, I was only able to observe letters so I'm still perplexed by the meaning of the code on the band.

In addition to the birds seen at the Preserve, Snowy Egret in varying stages of development as indicated by the yellow coloration on their legs were present.

The White Ibis juvenile above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

A juvenile Little Blue Heron was also seen with its dull yellow legs and pure white coloration in its feathers.

Least Tern remained present in greater numbers than Laughing Gull as a few Brown Pelican made flybys.

The White Ibis above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

There were a few Tricolored Heron as well while another unexpected treat was the presence of four Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.

Outside of a roosting colony, I had never seen so many YCNH in close proximity to each other before.

The Least Tern above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

Observing these birds with three on one side of the channel and the fourth on the east side, I made my first observation of a Raccoon at Bunch Beach Preserve.

The raccoon would disappear into the mangroves as one of the YCNH made a find of a large crab.

The Raccoon above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

It was interesting to watch the bird consume its meal while the low light at this point made it difficult to document the bird's actions in breaking the crustacean's shell.

A pair of fishermen were active in this area after my arrival and had caused virtually all of the birds to take flight inadvertently as they made their way along the channel back toward shore.

The sunset above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

The fourth Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was still present as I made my own way back to shore and seemed quite brazen as it approached me while stopping to photograph it in extremely low light.

I had to back off a couple of times to keep the bird in the frame of the camera.

The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

I wish I had read Artie's blog post about panography before this visit as I would have attempted to create a more appealing "stitched image" of the bird.

I recommend that you remember this technique as I hope to do so.

The White Ibis with Roseate Spoonbill above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

You may very likely utilize the technique as I'm still merely attempting to master the capture of a basic image.

Bunche Beach Preserve is one of those wildlife venues in southwest Florida that I could visit every day and never tire of.

The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in July 2011.

After publishing this blog, I went to the Audubon of Florida link included above to report my sighting and found that they had the slash in their hyperlink (not clickable) backwards which I suspect led to especially minimal reports received by them.