Despite the lack of activity of late, I was back out at Boundary Bay a couple of hours before the high tide. The shoreline and tidal pools were quiet once again, but realizing this might be the case, there was a “Plan B”. This involved scanning some of the dryer areas further out for a shore bird that prefers these conditions, the Semipalmated Plover. It was not long before I located a small flock about 200m out from the pilings. As they were the only game in town, so to speak, I took my time approaching. The final 20m of the approach was down on my knees slowly moving the camera on the tripod in front of me. It took a little time, but was worth it as I managed to get fairly close without spooking the birds.
After all that the first photo was not of a plover, but a Western Sandpiper with them.
Then the Semipalmated Plovers started to work their way in front of me.
I tried to position myself in the middle of the group,
… hoping to improve my chances of getting multiple birds going by.
Once in this close,
… you want to keep your movement to a minimum.
At times they would move away, but then come back towards me again.
Then the Western Sandpiper trekked by once more.
Both the Semipalmated Plover and Western Sandpiper are fairly small,
… so being able to get this close certainly helps to get better photos. It was just shy of an hour I spent with these birds. I think that qualifies “Plan B” as a success.