White-rumped and Semi-palmated Sandpipers

These are also from early September. Semi-palmated in the first photo - the rest are White-rumped. The White-rumped are slightly larger than the Semi-palmated and their primary flight feathers protrude farther beyond their tails.

 

Sanderlings

I do enjoy the name of these birds, not only is it descriptive it's quite poetic. Of all the sandpipers these birds probably are the most frequently seen running on the sand, following the waves out as they recede and then back in as they move onshore. 

I think these were taken on  different days but only a couple of days apart in early September at roughly the same location. Back when shorebird numbers were still fairly numerous.

 

 

Curious Great Blue

 I don't think this bird knew what I was since after it landed it continued to walk toward me to get a better look. I was hoping it would start feeding but that didn't happen and as the light was fading I had to move and start heading back to my car.

Juvenile Male Wood Duck

 I didn't have too much luck with the adults this year but I was able to capture these images of a young male this Fall.

Late Day Shorebirds

I still have some sets of images from this shorebird season to post before I'm done for the year. While shorebird season isn't officially over it's getting close and now that duck hunting season has started I probably won't be getting out much. These were taken on the same evening in late August as the sun was setting and the light was being reflected off the rocks in the background. Least Sandpiper - first two images, Semipalmated Sandpiper and Semipalmated Plover. 

Yellowlegs and Dowitchers

 These species often associate with each other particularly when resting. They are both fairly long legged but the Yellowlegs tend to prefer deeper water when feeding. Some of the Short-billed Dowitchers took advantage of the deeper water here to take a bath and finished with a leap into the air to shake the water off.

While the Yellowlegs, Greater in this case, were mostly feeding, the Dowitchers were either resting or bathing.  I guess the water was too deep for them to be able to probe the sand with their beaks. The Yellowlegs mostly pick food from just below the surface of the water, often small fish and crustaceans.