Sundown on Gandy Beach - Skywatch Friday

One last stop on the way home from work happened the week before the time changed. I stopped at the Gandy bridge beach because it is so close to work. It got dark fast. There were a lot of birds on the beach. Most were trying to sleep but there were a handful of people there and some had dogs. 

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Black skimmers flying away from a barking dog. This looks like a classic Florida boat to me.

Black skimmers coming back to the beach. He's looking at me like "where'd that dog go?"

There's a huge population of plovers on Gandy beach.

Black bellied plover's got an itch.

Oystercatcher couple. There's usually a handful of oystercatchers on Gandy beach but you have to look for them. Often they hide at the far end by the utility tower.

Another black bellied plover in non-breeding colors. In the winter his belly and head are black.

Sundown on Gandy beach

Sandwich tern taking a bath.

How many different types of shorebirds are on this beach?

Skimmer doing what he does - skimming for food.

Industrial strength great blue heron.

Cormorant condos.

I stopped by Gandy beach on the way home one day last week. I left work late so I barely had any time before it got dark. There were still a handful of people there. The reason the skimmers in the above picture were flying over my head was because there were 2 guys there on 3 wheeler dirt bikes. They thought it was fun to drive up to the shoreline and scare the birds away. As I was headed for the end of the beach where most of the birds were, they flew past me and drove through the shorebirds trying to go to sleep. They knew I was not happy. How would they like it if I came to their house and drove a dirt bike through at 6am and woke them up?

Otherwise, it was a nice night out but clouds moved in just as the sun was going down so no sunset shots on this trip.