We always try to plan a visit to Ft. De Soto Park if we're in Florida in April, looking for shorebirds, terns and hoopefully some trans-gulf migrants. We made our Ft. De Soto run on April 21st. A favorite location there is East Beach, a good stretch that is not used much by sunbathers or walkers, so good for shorebirds and terns. Wilson's Plover, pretty much a bird restricted to coastal locales, nests here in small numbers, and we see one of more Wilson's Plovers there every year. Here's a male Wilson's that foraged busily while most of the other shorebirds and terns were resting just above the water's edge. The male has a black forecrown, lores, and breast band. The wide white forehead continues back into the white supercillium. Note also the thick bill (once called Thick-billed Plover by some) and flesh-colored legs.
A view from the side shows the long thick bill at its best. This bird has a bit of rufous wash at the nape above the white neck ring. These are vocal birds, giving out frequent chirps, perhaps to let other birds know whose beach it is. Had to wonder if a female Wilson's was on a nest in the vicinity.
Plovers are sight-feeders, and Wilson's is always on the lookout for small crabs at the water's edge. They are said to be fond of Fiddler Crabs, but no muddy substrate nearby so it found another crab genus for lunch. They shake each leg to remove it and then swallow the body.
We didn't see a female this year (hopefully there's one incubating eggs on a nearby nest), but here's a female Wilson's from same beach in early May, 2012, having successfully caught a small crab and brought it to shore.
From a 2012 post about a female Wilson's:
"Note how the black forecrown, lores, and breast-band of the alternate plumage male are a duller gray-brown in the female. Some females do have a dark forecrown, like this one, but not nearly as black as on the male. The lores (area between the eye and the bill) on the male are black, but light on the female. They both have pink or flesh-colored legs, which can help separate them from the Semipalmated Plover when you can't see the bill. Wilson's is the only ringed plover with pink legs, and in fact was once placed in its own genus, Pagolia, separate from Charadrius. There are 3 subspecies, and this is the nominate race, C. wilsonia wilsonia."
Ft. De Soto Park is a Pinellas County Park on Florida's Gulf Coast, at the mouth of Tampa Bay, southeast of St. Petersburg. Very popular with campers and beach-goers, so weekday visits are better for birding.
