Fuller Park, St. Petersburg, and Hernando Beach, Sunday, May 5

I arrived at Walter Fuller Park in St. Petersburg at about 1:00 pm to look for Nanday Parakeet, previously named Black-hooded Parakeet.  I had found a message on the internet on BRDBRAIN, one of the Florida Birding list serves, from January 6, 2013 stating that Fuller Park in St, Petersburg is reliable for Nanday Parakeets behind the pool in the tall trees.   I parked in the shade along a street near the soccer fields and walked into the park to find the pool.  It was not a long walk around the lake to get to the pool.  I first found the front entry to the pool in order to verify which side was the back, and then walked behind the pool to find the tall trees.  From a distance,  I could not see any Nandays but they were up in the canopy under the leaves to be out of the sun.  Many species of parrots and parakeets do this during the hot part of the day.  There were at least eight Nandays in singles, pairs and triplets perched in one tree.   See photos. 
The second photo shows three birds in a clump with two preening each other and the third bird preening itself.  I took a break to find a toilet facility in the park.  When I returned, it sounded like a much larger group of Nanday Parakeets present, at least 20 to 25 in additional trees.  I enjoyed watching the Nanday Parakeets for about 30 minutes and then I left Fuller Park to explore Fort Desoto Park.  I had never been to Fort Desoto Park and wanted to see if there were any shorebirds present.  Unfortunately, it was a weekend and Sunday, so the park was full of beach lovers, boaters and fisherman.  I did find some shorebird habitat at East Beach with a few Dunlin, 6 to 8 Willets and one Semipalmated Plover.  A small flock of shorebirds approached the area but turned away due to all the human presence and activity.  The flock landed further down the beach and included about four Short-billed Dowitchers.  None of these are new birds for the year.  Further out in the bay, some flats were exposed, on which there were several Black-bellied Plovers and a single Marbled

Godwit.  I left Fort Desoto Park and headed toward Hernando Beach to look for the Budgerigars.  I arrived at Gulf Winds Circle at about 5:30 pm and found a single Budgerigar on a bird feeder by about 6:00 pm.  See photos below.  I stayed until about 6:30 pm, hoping that more Budgies would show up but none did.  I then headed for I-75 to start driving north toward home with a potential stop in the Gainesville area on the way to try for Mississippi Kite.  I was too tired to drive the whole way back to Cincinnati without a good night of sleep. 

The Nanday Parakeet and Budgerigar make the total 391.