February 2, 2008 – Fernandina Beach, FL
Up at 6:00 AM again and made it to Lighthouse Point Beach at dawn, on the north side of Ponce de Leon Inlet. There’s a fishing jetty and even that early it was crowded with surf fisherpersons. We found the Sandwich Tern and Great Cormorant, but among all the fisherpersons and high surf – waves were splashing over the jetty – we couldn’t find the Purple Sandpiper. There will be a considerable optic equipment cleanup tonight.
We went next to the Valusia Country Landfill. Cameras cannot really capture the birds there: tens of thousands of gulls, as well as Bald Eagles, Double-crested Cormorants, Great, Snowy and Cattle Egrets, thousands of Grackles, and hundreds of Black and Turkey Vultures. Only the Salton Sea has approached mixed species densities like that, and never with gulls and terns. Amazing and appalling at the same time. You wear a hood or wide-brimmed hat if you bird Valusia Landfill.
Lastly north past Daytona Beach we cut over to the coast and Huguenot and Little Talbot Island State Parks. We picked up the Ipswich subspecies of Savannah Sparrow and Red Knots, and very nice views of a Great Black-backed Gull on a buoy. Nice light for photography. Made it to Amelia Island and the Fernandina Beach Hampton Inn after dark. Dinner at a fish house. I spent the balance of the evening cleaning optics.
