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Florida's Birds: Ocean and shore birds
Main Bird Page: Directory: Wading, Water, Soaring, Diving, Trees & Bushes, Ocean & Shore, Bird Bits (flight, beaks, feet etc), Visitors Questions, Why do birds do what they do? Including how do birds fly, how do they drink salt water, & how do birds float.
 
Brown Pelican
The Brown Pelican is seen throughout the coastal waters of Florida. It is 3 1/2 feet long and has a wing span of 7 1/2 feet. These are very large, dark birds with long flat bills and throat pouches. When they fly they lay their heads back on their shoulders and rest their bills on their chests. They will flap their wings a few times then glide, then flap a few times again then glide. They will also float in open water like this one pictured. Watching them dive from the air into the water to grab a fish is a fantastic sight!
One thing you may not find in the guide books about this bird is that though they may seem friendly as they perch close to people and wait for an opportunity for food they are not tame. Don't let them get too close to you. Go feed the gulls. You may get a nip from them as well but at least their bills are wee tiny things and not the size of your forearm!
 A pelican can hold about 25 pounds of fish in it's pouch.
Pelicans have been known to live up to 35 years.
Brown Pelicans have a wing span of 6 to 7 feet and can fly up to 35 mph.
I have read that Pelicans fly up to 30 feet above the water then dive down for fish. I have seen them dive from this height but usually I've seen them fly a short height, sometimes as short as 15 or so feet off the water, then plunge into the water to catch fish. Maybe the height depends on how far under the surface the fish are. It would seem reasonable that the higher the dive the deeper the fish. Pelicans are very buoyant.
Brown Pelicans are often found in groups. I have not been able to find if these groups are related members or just individuals birds that have decided to hang around together for a while.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has great information about these birds.
Do Birds Drink Saltwater?
Ocean birds can drink salt water. All birds have salt glands but they are small in land birds. Birds that live at the Ocean have larger salt glands. These glands filter out the salt. If the bird is real close and you're lucky, you'll see the salt dribble out of the bill. There was once an experiment with Mallard ducks, a freshwater bird. They took ducklings and separated them into two groups. One group they exposed to high concentrations of salt in their drinking water. These ducklings developed larger salt glands.
Other animals also have salt glands to help them handle higher concentrations of salt in their systems. The Galapagos iguanas, some turtles, fishes and sharks are some examples.
Willet
In flight Willet's have a striking black and white wing pattern. They breed in central south Canada to Mexico and winter in Florida. We found the one on the left at the beach in Fort Myer's in September 2003 and the one on the right at a marsh in March 2005.
There is a great video and sound bit at the MangoVerde website. There is also a good site location map at Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.
winter plumage
Why Do Birds Fly So Low Over Water?
There is an aerodynamic phenomenon that happens just above the ground call "ground effect". When an object travels over the ground it creates a cushion of air that is trapped under it. This cushion of air is more condensed and more difficult to drop down through. If you drop a ball you won't see this ground effect but wings with their aerodynamic structure gather more air beneath them and thus have a greater ground effect. Fast moving objects also collect more air and have a ground effect. If you shoot a bullet at the ground it'll hit that ground effect and actually change direction and travel parallel to the ground.
Airplanes are also affected by the ground effect.
Birds take advantage of this phenomenon. You can find them flying low over water and other large, unobstructed stretches of land. It's much easier to fly as the ground effect helps them stay aloft.
Aerodynamic: Pertaining to the force of air in motion.
Gulls can be difficult to identify. Not only are the young differently colored from the adults and there are often great variations in adults but gulls also have different color patterns during different years of their lives.
Here are some great online sites that may help you identify birds.
Duncraft
Cornell
BDI - BioDiversity Insititue
Ring-Billed Gull
Bright yellow bill with complete black ring at tip. Bright yellow legs and yellow eye. White head, neck, breast and belly with pale gray back and upper wings. Black primaries with white tips and white tail.
"The Ring-Billed Gull is a medium-sized gull that is often called the "sea gull." This bird used to be quite abundant, and was called the Common American Gull. It was killed for its feathers (mostly used in hats), but has now recovered from a drastic decline in population numbers; it may be the most abundant gull in North America. This sea bird is found along ocean and lake coasts of North America. The life span is about 10 to 15 years. These water birds make a high-pitched squawking sound and a ky-eow sound."
Enchanged Learning
It takes three years for the ring-billed gull to achieve adult plumage. n North America, the ring-billed gull breeds in the Northwest from the prairies of Canada to California. It is also found in the Great Lakes region, the Canadian Maritimes, and northern New England. It winters from southern New England south to Cuba, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and
from British Columbia to Mexico. The ring-billed gull makes its home on lakes and rivers. It may move to the ocean in the winter The ring-billed gull eats insects, seeds, grain, fish and garbage. It is often called the "fast food gull" because it often hangs around fast food restaurants scavenging for food." Natureworks.com
Ruddy Turnstone
The Ruddy Turnstone is a stocky bird with orange legs. This small bird is found all the way from the coastal tundra to South America and also in the interior of Asia. They can be found Australia, New Zealand, southern Africa and remote islands in the South Pacific. They are named from their method of feeding. They will walk along the beach, rolling small stones over and grabbing the animals and insects hiding underneath.
Killdeer
Killdeer are about the size of a Blue Jay (about 10 inches). Their main food are insects including grasshoppers, caterpillar's, ants and dragonflies. They will also eat worms, snails, crabs and berries. Killdeer like open areas such as plowed fields, golf courses, and beaches. Killdeer are the only plover with two black bands on the chest. Male Killdeer select a territory and make a two note call, often for hours, to attract a mate. After mating the female Killdeer lays about 4 eggs in a depression on the ground. Both birds incubate the eggs, which hatch in 24 to 28 days. If a predator approaches to close to the nest Killdeer will pretend injury to lure the predator away. The hatchlings are able to get around and feed themselves soon after hatching.
Least Tern
This tern is 8 1/2 inches with a wingspan of 20 inches. It flies with very rapid wingbeats and dives into water for prey. The Tern breeds on the coasts of temperate and tropical of the U.S., Europe, and Asia. It is It is strongly migratory, wintering in the subtropical and tropical oceans as far south as Peru and Brazil, South Africa and Australia.
The Least Tern feeds by plunge-diving for fish, usually in saline waters.
The male will offer a fish to the female in the courtship.
These photos were taken at the fresh water marsh preserve near our home. These little birds are very fast. Even when we tried to anticipate their dive and clicked the shutter as we saw them go down we'd still miss their splash into the water but, if we were lucky, we'd catch them coming back out of the water. Usually we'd just have photos of splash circles with no bird.
All photos, including birds and other wildlife photography © by Gilbert Henry
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Gill Henry
Sweet Success!