Outnumbered!

Thursday
The royal terns by far outnumbered the people at Bean Point this morning, see top right image! Bean Point is the most northern most tip of the island, where the Gulf of Mexico meets Tampa Bay. It is named for George Emerson Bean, the first permanent resident of Anna Maria Island. There is no parking very convenient to it, so it involves a bit of a walk, but you are rewarded with a wide stretch of pristine white sand, shared with a small number of people, but hundreds of birds, predominantly Royal terns, though I did spot a couple of Sandwich terns hiding amongst them - bottom right. We noticed a lot of the terns were carrying fish in their mouths, but didn’t seem to be eating them. I discovered later, searching on the internet, that this is part of their mating ritual - the males will present the female with a fish. The central lower image shows two Royal terns doing a sort of courtship dance, turning round and round together. We enjoyed a wonderful stroll along the beach, enjoying the soft white sand, turquoise waters, and the bird watching.
Then we returned to our apartment, and spent the afternoon on the beach
Step count: 10,411