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offshorebirder

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offshorebirder

Here are a few sandpipers I had a close encounter with day before yesterday.  They were at a sod farm (turf farm) feeding in puddles and flooded areas after heavy rains.  Sadly the Hudsonian Godwit that was found the day before was no longer present.  

 

Here is a Least Sandpiper - it has not yet fully molted out of its breeding plumage:

 

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Here is a Semipalmated Sandpiper - devilishly similar to Little Stints in nonbreeding (basic) plumage:

 

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Dave Williams

It's the first home match of the season for Liverpool  and in an hour I'm off to Anfield to watch.

What could be more appropriate than a Red Knot!!

27120710970_90547d2a6f_b.jpgRed Knot     Iceland by Dave Williams, on Flickr

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Peter Connan

Stunning photo!

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  • 3 months later...
offshorebirder

Here are a couple of posts with shorebird photos from some recent field adventures I had in coastal South Carolina.  

 

This is a pair of Long-billed Curlews (Numenius americanus) - possibly my favorite shorebird.  I saw them at Key Inlet in Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge - reachable only by boat.

 

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They are part of the dwindling population that winters along the southeast coast of North America.  During the 1800s, "market gunners" used decoys and arrays of punt guns (giant shotguns) to kill millions of shorebirds to can and sell as food. This led to the eventual extinction of species such as Eskimo Curlew.  Long-billed Curlews that migrated and wintered in the eastern U.S. never recovered and have been in a long slow population slide.   Now there are only a few dozen left that winter in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

 

These Curlews that winter in Cape Romain NWR are the "Last of the Mohicans".   It is down to 3 individuals - a decade ago one could see 10+ of them.   It is a bitterly sad story.

 

Fortunately the population that winters along the Pacific coast of North America is in much better shape, having not been market gunned into a decline.

 

 

Edited by offshorebirder
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offshorebirder

On a less bittersweet note, I had a nice close encounter with a Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima) this past Sunday at Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.  It was feeding on exposed rocks on the harbor jetties.

 

Even in basic (winter) plumage, Purple Sandpipers are handsome birds.

 

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This one is pretty large - not sure if Safaritalk will enlarge+display all of it when clicked...

 

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Edited by offshorebirder
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Is there anything we will not destroy in our greed? Very sad. Thanks for sharing @offshorebirder.

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  • 4 months later...
offshorebirder

Here is a nice breeding-plumaged Willet that I photographed today.  It was perched on a rice trunk (water gate in a former ricefield impoundment) surveying its nesting territory - a low grassy swale beside a salt marsh and river.

 

Willet_ricetrunk_Yawkey1_18x12b.thumb.jpg.99ae58939d5883841828c7beb013efe5.jpg

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Beautiful in all its detail !

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offshorebirder

Thank you very much @PeterHG.

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offshorebirder

Solitary Sandpipers are one of my favorite shorebirds.  They are so beautifully patterned and I like their habit of foraging by themselves in a quiet pool or backwater.  So of course I really like their old world counterparts, Green Sandpipers.

 

I had a delightful encounter during a shorebird survey day before yesterday with three Solitary Sandpipers.  They were jockeying for position in a small pool of water.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
offshorebirder

Here are a couple of videos I shot last Saturday during a shorebird survey at the Yawkey Wildlife Center.

 

* Be sure to turn up the resolution to 1080p!   

 

American Golden-Plover (Canon 7DmkII + 400mm f/4 IS II lens) :

 

 

 

 

This next one shows just a corner of a vast tidal ricefield impoundment.   Shot it with an iphone.  The "pwee"  calls are Grey Plovers (we call them Black-bellied Plovers over here).  The chattering sound in the background is from Semipalmated Plovers and Semipalmated Sandpipers.   Many of the sandpipers have their tails pointing up like flags - a sign of territorial aggression. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by offshorebirder
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On 5/10/2018 at 7:44 AM, offshorebirder said:

Yawkey Wildlife Center

 

A wader paradise.

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offshorebirder

Here is a photo from Saturday - a Black-necked Stilt cropped a couple of different ways.  It was in the same location as the above video.

 

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Black-necked_Stilt_WheelerBasin1-zm_11x7b.thumb.jpg.4da22322dcbef1f4006c697732b5ba72.jpg

 

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  • 10 months later...
Towlersonsafari

having a go at uploading a redshank battling with, I think, a lugworm and seeing if it fits also look a lugworm!

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Edited by Towlersonsafari
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  • 1 year later...
offshorebirder

An American Avocet coming into alternate plumage - I saw it and ten thousand other shorebirds yesterday during a survey at the Yawkey Wildlife Center.  

 

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Beautiful Nate

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A Three-banded Plover at Lake Malawi

 

Three-banded Plover

 

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A Black Heron doing its thing. Also at Lake Malawi

 

Black heron

 

Black heron

 

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We've got plenty of Ruddy Turnstones by our rivers and coastline here in Suffolk

 

Ruddy Turnstone

 

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Midway between winter and breeding plumage for this Black-tailed Godwit

 

Black-tailed Godwit

 

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Little Egrets are becoming much more common here too

 

Little Egret with fish

 

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Black-winged Stilt

This one was in Ranthambhore

 

Black-winged Stilt

 

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offshorebirder
11 hours ago, Soukous said:

A Black Heron doing its thing. Also at Lake Malawi

 

With a fish!

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5 hours ago, offshorebirder said:

 

With a fish!

 

:D too small to even use as bait

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  • 1 month later...

Dunlin

They seem a lot less skittish than most other shorebirds. 

 

Dunlin

 

Dunlin

 

These were on the beach at Kessingland, Suffolk.

There were also several pairs of Ringed Plovers making nests

 

Ringed Plover

 

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