Fort DeSoto State Park

This location may be my favorite birding spot in Florida. Located just south of St Pete’s Beach, Fort DeSoto offers a wide variety of shorebirds and waders due to it’s location directly on a gulf coast beach. I prefer arriving before sunrise and getting in 2-3 hours of shooting before any beachgoers show up. This location is unique in that you can face east, watch the sun rise over an estuary where many different birds begin their day,

and then simply turn around, walk thirty yards in the opposite direction,

and find yourself on the beach, with the sun at your back, where herons and egrets are fishing for their breakfast.