Western Sandpiper – Page 3 – CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography

Peeps, Plovers & Pecs

Just in case you hadn’t noticed, shore birds have been the theme for a while now. With the migration still ongoing and the chance of locating the odd rarity, it was back out to Boundary Bay around noon to catch the rising tide. As usual my walk started from 104 St. and headed west from there.

First up this afternoon,

… was this lone Western Sandpiper.

While it is more common to find them in groups or with other birds,

… every once in a while there will be the odd man out. Not long after leaving this little fellow, another reason for coming back today.

The American Golden-Plovers were still present.

This one tucked away resting,

… and then getting up and doing a nice stretch. Notice no black armpit like the Black-bellied Plover.

The last outing where I managed some distant, but decent shots, was far too short.

Today I was able to get much closer,

… and spend more time with not one, but two birds. While photographing these birds I noticed a couple of other groups further along the beach that I decided to check out.

The first was a pair of Baird’s Sandpipers,

… that were also quite cooperative. Up next,

… was about six Pectoral Sandpipers. I wanted to check this group out for possible Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, but no such luck today.

In with them was a Least Sandpiper. While it was initially resting and facing away from me,

… it started foraging and passed by right in front of me. Then I made my way back,

… locating the American Golden-Plovers pretty much where I had left them. At this point another photographer was making his way towards me. Having had some good quality time with them already, I slowly backed out so as to not flush the birds and pointed them out to him. John thanked me for the gesture and was appreciative of the opportunity to photograph these birds. Being such wonderful day I stuck around a while longer after the high tide.

The American Pipits were still plentiful along the beach,

… but I did not spend a whole lot of time with them.

I spent more time watching the groups of Pectoral Sandpipers. They were still coming and going as the sun was going down,

… but I still could not turn one into a Sharp-tailed. None the less, a fairly productive day.

Semipalmated Plovers

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.

Baird’s, Western & Pectoral

A Buff-breasted Sandpiper had been reported in a field along 72 St. A turf farm frequented by shore birds, but not a great spot to try and get photos. So on Tuesday I headed out to Boundary Bay in the hopes it would make an appearance there. I walked from 104 St. to the mansion with no sighting of the Buff-breasted.

There were some Baird’s Sandpiper resting along the beach.

And as the tide came in,

… the Western Sandpiper were looking to roost on anything that would keep them above the rising water. For these photos I am out in the water shooting back into towards shore.

In addition to the Buff-breated Sandpiper continuing in the same location, a Ruff had also been observed yesterday in Boundary Bay. I made my way out there again this afternoon. Scouring the beach all the way to the mansion I was not coming up with anything out of the ordinary. I had ignored some birders signalling me from the dyke to check this area out.

Pectoral Sandpiper with Western Sandpiper

I did turn up some Pectoral Sandpipers,

… sharing a clump of eelgrass with some Western Sandpipers. But, I should have paid attention to my friend Tak who was waiving to me. Turns out they were in contact with some other birders who had the Ruff back at the pilings. By the time I got back there and talked to them it had gone. On top of that I learned a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper had also been sighted in the area today. Guess where I will be tomorrow?!