Black-bellied Plover – Page 3 – CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography

Ruddy Turntstone

Initially at Boundary Bay this afternoon there were good numbers of shore birds around. Most were out at the waters edge and starting to move in along the beach as the tide came in. The idea being to position myself in such a way that they would eventually work their way towards me.

So far so good as the plovers slowly moved closer. Then they all flushed as a result of a Peregrine Falcon hunting along the beach. They circled a few times out over the water and eventually returned to the beach. At this time I noticed something a little different than the usual plovers and sandpipers.

A Ruddy Turnstone foraging along the beach. While the Black Turnstone are seen quite regularly in this area, the Ruddy Turnstone is seen less frequently.

And then a second one. They have been spotted with the plovers for the last week or two. Unfortunately everything kept getting flushed this afternoon and there was no way I was going to get anything other than these distant shots today. As I was leaving I saw the Peregrine make one last pass at the remaining group of shore birds. Scanning the beach after that there were just gulls left.

Godwit, Plovers & Least

First a follow-up on my last post. Thanks to those that e-mailed and spoke to me in person confirming the Red Knot. Nice to finally add that bird to my life photo list.

A fairly rare bird to this area that has been frequenting Boundary Bay for some weeks now has been a Bar-tailed Godwit. I just have not seen it on my last few visits to the bay area. Today on the high tide it was present along with the usual Black-bellied Plovers. The problem being it was roosting on a fairly distant hummock. The birds were a little skittish and kept flushing and then returning to roost again. The tricky part was keeping tabs on the Godwit when they were all on the move to see where it landed.

After one such foray it finally landed in some eelgrass that was a little closer. I moved down to the beach and waited to make sure the Godwit and Plovers had settled. Then slowly moved out towards them.

The Bar-tailed Godwit was resting peacefully amongst the plovers. Now it was a matter of waiting to get it with its head up.

It eventually did look up and not long afterwards,

… something seemed to get their attention and they flew off after this shot.

Already being down on the beach I figured I might as well try for some Plover shots.

Today some seemed a little less anxious about my being there.

Others still would not let me get too close.

But this one on my way back,

… did not seem to mind. And just before I headed back in to the dyke,

… some Least Sandpipers landed beside and in front of me providing this last shot of the afternoon.

Knot & Turnstones

It was back to shore birds this afternoon, so I headed out to Boundary Bay. On arriving I met some fellow birders, a few I had not seen in some time. On speaking with them the highlights of the the afternoon had been a Red Knot and a couple of Ruddy Turnstones aside from the usual Black-bellied Plovers and some peeps.

The tide was not going to come in much further than it already was. A few of us took a quick stroll west along the dyke as it had not been checked yet. Not finding anything we returned to the group and chatted for a bit. The group was getting ready to leave so I asked if anyone wanted to take one last look before I headed out on the beach, not wanting to flush anything if they were still interested in watching from the dyke with their scopes. This was when a Red Knot was located again out with the Plovers.

The Red Knot is a bird I do not have a photo of yet. Once the group left I headed out on to the beach and the area the Knot had been seen. I got as close as the Plovers would allow without them moving off. Unfortunately it was not very close at all, which is normally the case with these birds. I stayed put down low watching when I noticed some movement a little closer, but still some distance away.

It was similar to what had been pointed out by the group on the dyke. From this distance I could also see some faint orangey/red in the belly area almost to the flanks.

I am hoping this is a Red Knot, but not being certain posted one of the photos to a local bird group for ID.

Hardly great photos (huge crops), but they are record shots of what hopefully will be another addition to my life photo list.

While watching the Plovers I took a couple of shots of some groups as they flew by. On checking one of the photos a little closer,

… I could see two Ruddy Turnstones. In this crop they are the first two birds followed by three Black-belied Plovers. So while not actively looking for them, I still managed to capture them.