I headed to Fort De Soto in early June. It’s always magical to walk along that beach in the early morning with the cool breeze in my face and the warm sand between my toes. You can take pictures of the beautiful birds and laugh at their antics, like when this Laughing Gull landed on the Brown Pelican. I guess it’s easier to steal a fish from a pelican than catch it yourself…

I walked around Outback Key. As usual, I ran into “Big Red” the Reddish Egret along the ocean’s edge. He posed for a picture and then flew off. This is actually a composite of two images because the bird was too close and he didn’t fit in my frame!

You already read about my Snowy Plover family in my last post, but I can’t resist including another image of this beautiful bird. They were all over the beach that morning!

The gulls were also all over the beach. A lunch bag left over from Memorial Day kept a big flock of gulls very happy that morning. They flocked in and gave me plenty of flight shot opportunities…

…then a gull would take off with a bit of food, and all the other gulls chased it. Just like with the pelican, it’s easier to steal your food than to find it yourself! Sometimes one of the birds would drop the food in mid-flight, and another gull was always there to grab it!

After a walk around, I settled down in the sand to photograph the nesting birds. See if you can find the subject that captivated my camera for the rest of the morning! You’ll have to wait for another post to read more. :)