On our last beach walk in South Florida, I encountered two species that I had not yet observed during this visit. They were short-billed dowitchers and a single common loon.
About two dozen of the dowitchers were feeding along the shoreline, drilling into the wet sand for marine invertebrates. They are on their way to northern Canada where they will nest in wooded bogs or wetlands, generally south of the Arctic tundra.
Just as we were leaving the beach, I noticed a common loon well offshore, resting on the calm Gulf waters. Though I was a bit surprised that it was this far south so late in the spring, it was still on the local eBird checklist, a database far greater than my personal experience. Today, we begin to head north ourselves.
