Willet Altercation

I was recently conducting a whale survey here in northeast Florida. We are most interested in looking for Right Whales. The mothers come to the area to calf and I am on the Monday team to look for them in Sector 1 (from the St. Augustine Beach Pier to just north of Marineland).

Last Monday, we didn’t see any Right Whales but I keep my camera with me just in case. We had the opportunity to witness two Willets in an altercation. It appeared that they were fighting, but I can’t be sure exactly what was going on between the two. Following are a few shots of the sequence.

Snake update: Sadly, the snake mentioned in the previous post died of its injuries. I took it to the vet, but they could not save it. I am not surprised. Once I took a closer look at the snakes underside, I could see its injuries were more extensive than I realized. I am grateful to St. Johns Veterinary Hospital for trying to save the snake and the GTM NERR for setting up a tank for it to recuperate from its injuries if it survived.