Topsail Hill Preserve

The highlight of today was finding two Snowy Plovers on an isolated beach in Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. Snowy Plovers are a threatened species under the endangered species act. This bird has been caught, banded, then released again so it can potentially be monitored over time.

I left Port St. Joe yesterday after the photography outing I blogged about in my last post. Not too far out of town, I passed this sign above. I had not realized that part of the Florida panhandle was in Central time.

The ride yesterday was considerably better than two days ago when there was a brutal headwind. This is the sight of a crosswind. While a tailwind or no wind would have been even better, a crosswind was a massive improvement over a headwind.

The ride was largely uneventful. I spent much of it on US 98 which generally had a good bike lane. This was one bridge that had a protected bike lane which was fabulous. The previous bridge was a white knuckle affair as there was only a 1 foot shoulder and no other way to go. Fortunately the cars were very good about giving me space, but it was rather stressful nonetheless.

There was not any birding opportunities along the way yesterday. With the hour gained by entering central time, no headwind, and no birding stops, I reached my hotel early. I made do by going for a swim in the Gulf and grabbing a Pina Colada by the pool.

After dinner, I enjoyed the lovely sunset and got to bed early.

The ride today to Topsail Hill Preserve was uneventful. The park itself was both reasonably large and lovely.

In a forested section, I saw this Blue Grosbeak off in the distance. When I took the photo, I thought it was an Eastern Bluebird. However, once I was able to see it clearly, I realized it was something new. The Blue Grosbeak is a new species for my life list.

In order to get to the beach, I had to walk my bike for over a mile on sandy trails or roads. Here, I finally gave up and left my bike behind once I could clearly see I had a straight shot to the beach.

Once on the beach, I was constantly looking for the Snowy Plovers. However, I initially did not have any luck. Here is one of the dozen or more Sanderlings I saw.

I also saw some WIllets, a Least Tern and this Forster’s Tern.

Leaving the beach behind, I spotted this Wood Thrush on the forest floor.

On my way out of the park, I made a slight detour to see this pond. And with this photo, I will sign off for the night and head to bed.