The early June morning was forecast to be clear and sunny. I headed to Fort De Soto, arriving as the park opened. That’s exactly when the small thundershowers started to pass through the park. So instead of heading to Outback Key, I grabbed my camera’s rain cover and headed to the wading pools on North Beach. My disappointment over the weather faded the second I saw the Roseate Spoonbill in the wading pool…

The usual crowd of summer birds was hanging out at the wading pool. Plenty of Snowy Egrets, a Great Egret, a dark-morph Reddish Egret, a White Ibis, and a few peeps along the edge of the water. The fish were good and the birds were busy fishing.

I settled down in the sand and enjoyed the action. The Reddish Egret worked his way to me, then stopped to preen in between fish.

The Reddish Egret wasn’t the only “drunken sailors” that morning. The Snowies threw up their wings and danced along the pool, casting shadows on the fish in the water. Then they quickly snatched the fish from the water and ate it.

My camera kept going back to the Spoony. He stopped foraging and stood quietly as the raindrops started to fall. I crawled to a good angle and got a head shot…

The light was fun that morning. The raindrops continued as I moved to photograph a Marbed Godwit. Then the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, bathing the landscape in soft light.

As the action in the wading pool waned, I headed down the beach to see what else I could find. You’ll read about that in my next post!