Yellowlegs - Greater and Lesser

  I thought this might be my last shorebird themed post for this year but I might be wrong. I actually found a few more sandpipers to photograph today - November 12th.  It was unexpected and they were mixed in with a few songbird (passerine) species which had been my goal for the last week or so. More on that later. For now here are a few yellowlegs images, all shot on the same day, at the same location in early September.

Short-billed Dowitchers, a Turnstone and Least Sandpiper

A few more images from this past season of shooting shorebirds.  Maybe one more post and then it's on to other species, namely waterfowl and possibly some songbirds.

 

Shorebirds on Rocks

 A few of my remaining images of shorebirds from this past season of shooting. A lot of these featured birds on rocks so I thought I would lump them together as a theme.  Most or all of these were shot at high tide which is when you tend to find these birds roosting when feeding isn't an option for them. Among the birds featured here are Black-bellied Plovers, Greater Yellowlegs and Ruddy Turnstones.

Shorebirds in Flight

A few random images of a few shorebirds in flight taken this Summer. In order they are Lesser Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitcher and Black-bellied Plover.

 

Sanderlings - Accidents Happen

 I'm sure it wasn't intentional.

Hudsonian Godwit - Flight Shots

 

Red Phalarope

I think I might have alluded to this bird in a previous post.  It's been awhile since I took these photos, I just remember that I was pretty excited to find it,  it's not a species I see often.  In fact if memory serves I've only seen them a couple of times. Of course I would have been happier to find a bird in breeding plumage. This bird is in Winter plumage with just a bit of red plumage showing. The adults in breeding plumage are quite striking, maybe someday I'll have the opportunity to see one.

 

Random Tern Images

 I think these are the last of my Common Tern images for this year. Taken in early August on one of my trips to the lake.

Juvenile Tern and Adult

 Back when the adults were still feeding the youngsters in mid August. By the end of the month there were no more terns to be found in the lake which seemed strange since in the weeks before they seemed to be everywhere.

Merganser Family

 I found this family of Common Mergansers one day while I was out trying to photograph shorebirds.

In Deep - Hudsonian Godwits

These long legged shorebirds are generally the last birds to leave their feeding area as the tide rises. The long legs combined with the long bill they use for probing the sand for blood worms come in handy in the deeper water when the other shorebirds have already gone to roost.

 

Juvenile Peregrine Falcon

 As mentioned in the previous post there was a Peregrine Falcon in the area on a day I was photographing shorebirds. I don't think it knew what to make of me so it did a flyby to have a closer look.

 

Juvenile Northern Harrier

 I haven't posted any raptor pictures for awhile, I've been mainly focused on shorebirds.  Well sometimes when you're not expecting it something different shows up.  This was one of two birds I believe, the other harrier didn't stick around and this one, while obviously interested in the shorebirds I was watching was also trying to avoid being harried by a Peregrine Falcon in the area. It had landed on the edge of the pond and I waited for it to take flight to get these images.

Shorebirds in Some Golden Light

 A bit of a variety here.  Juvenile Willet, Semiplalmated Plovers, Least and Semipalmated Sandpiper. I'll let you figure out which is which.

Red Knots

This is not the shorebird I alluded to in my last post, that will come later.  I do tend to see this species fairly regularly but always in small numbers. This year I think the most at one time was four. There are two individuals in these images.