It was quite an eventful day yesterday.  I was up before dawn and out on the beach just a little further up the coast with my nephew Geoff, its his wedding on Saturday and that's the reason we are here at this time of year. He was fishing but I was just doing my usual, watching and taking photos as I normally do.  The sunrise was spectacular, there was a lot of cloud in the air which eventually turned in to the most stormy day since our arrival.  We didnt catch fish but it was never the less, a lot of fun.  There were four Osprey fishing in front of me, obviously migrants from further north.  One by one they caught fish and disappeared but this great wildlife spectacle was almost impossible to photograph due to the cloud and almost darkness.  The sun ws rising rapidly and I did manage to get a shot with one of the birds of prey after grabbing a fish, a Lookdown, Selene vomer  a  common fish in these waters.

It's remarkeable that I managed to get any kind of photo at all because you can see what the light was like just a few minutes before. It says a lot about the qualities of today's digital cameras. Yesterday had an unhappy event, the theft of my iPad which I have already replaced!  You need to be vigilant with your gear everywhere in the world, but with the amount of travelling I do it's only a matter of time before something happens. Its only stuff after all.

The common gull on the beaches at the moment is the Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) I have yet to see any other species yet apart from just one Lesser black backed gull.  They are very similar to the Black Headed Gull of Western Europe see photos y clicking on the link below.  Surprisingly, the Ring billed Gulls  that are so common on the winter beaches here, are so far, absent. 

In the summer this species  has a black head but in their non breeding plumage, they lose this pattern.

 I found this image of a a Great White Egret which I photographed on Sunday in Palm Beach County .  Great White Egrets are a striking bird.  There are always one or two in the UK at any one time, there is a breeding population in Europe  but they are almost an iconic bird here in South Florida and I love to see them.

And finally another of my favourite Florida birds is the White Ibis.  As you drive along the highways here its not unusual to see them probing in the earth by the roadside.  You usually cant stop because of the danger but it makes it all seem vey exotic.

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