Spent a couple of hours walking the incredible 3000+ feet of boardwalk that runs through marsh/wetlands & ocean bay areas here. Everywhere you looked there was amazing things to watch!
Here are four of the unique birds we saw.
The most eye popping bird we saw was the Roseate Spoonbill which looked like a funky ostrich with a super long neck and spoon shaped bill wearing a pink tutu! They are are pale pink birds with brighter pink shoulders and rump. They have a white neck and a partially feathered, yellowish green head from which their red eyes shine and wade through shallow water swinging their head side to side with their bill under the water feeling for prey. It was just wild to watch them and see them sitting up in the mangrove trees.
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Another cool bird was the White Ibis which are large wading birds with football-shaped bodies. They have long legs and a long neck that they hold out straight in flight. Their bill is long and curved. Immatures (first summer birds) are splotchy brown and white above as they molt into adult plumage. That matches the one we saw. I guess as they age they turn almost entirely white, save for the black-tipped wings and brilliant reddish pink legs and bill. I loved watching it's piercing blue eyes as it splashed around in the water.
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The coloring of the chicken-like marsh bird - Common Gallinule - was beautiful. They are mostly charcoal gray birds with a white stripe down their sides and white outer tail feathers. Adults have a bright red shield on their forehead and a red bill tipped in yellow. They swim like a duck and often stay close to emergent marsh vegetation, but swim out in
the open from time to time.
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I finally caught the American Coot out of the water and got to see it's feet and Oh MAN! They are a plump, chickenlike bird with a rounded head and a sloping bill. Their tiny tail, short wings, and large feet are visible on the rare occasions they take flight. You find coots eating aquatic plants on almost any body of water. When swimming they look like small ducks (and often dive), but on land they look more chickenlike, walking rather than waddling. I think their striking red eyes are amazing.
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