The Little Nuthatch

I visited Fort De Soto Park last weekend, and saw an American Oystercatcher. What stunning birds! This reminded me that I had painted an Oystercatcher nest and never got around to photographing it, so I finally did it today. This was a piece I worked on while camping near the beach back a couple years ago. I collected the shells and things on the beach and glued them to the painting to make the nest. This is similar to an actual Oystercatcher nest, as they commonly nest in sandy spots with shells. Close up:  

Fort Desoto is a hotspot for warblers in April, but also a wonderland of shorebirds!    

And here, I present... a random assortment of photos from birding last month. This warbler above, not sure on the ID- juvenile Palm Warbler, maybe? Very beautiful with that little bit of color! And this one above, pardon the bad photo, but I was thrilled to get a look at a RAIL! Pretty rare find for me. Question is, what Rail? Clapper Rail? That one was taken at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I've finished my latest guide, Shorebirds of North America. Sandpipers, plovers, oystercatchers, dowitchers, etc. (Males in breeding plumage.) It includes aaaaall these birds: American Avocet American Golden-plover American Oystercatcher American Woodcock Baird's Sandpiper Black-bellied Plover Black-necked Stilt Black Oystercatcher Black Turnstone Buff-breasted Sandpiper Dunlin Greater Yellowlegs Hudsonian Godwit Killdeer Least Sandpiper Lesser Yellowlegs Long-billed Curlew Long-billed Dowitcher Marbled Godwit Mountain Plover Pacific Golden-plover Pectoral Sandpiper Piping Plover Purple Sandpiper Red Knot Red-necked Phalarope Red Phalarope Rock Sandpiper Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Samipalmated Plover Semipalmated Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Snowy Plover Solitary Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Stilt Sandpiper Surfbird Upland Sandpiper Wandering Tattler Western...

  Taken at Blue Springs. That fern floating on top of the water was just so beautiful. Remember to look for the little things.