It was a cloudy day but I got a chance to photograph some shorebirds. I’ve been seeing lots of Piping Plovers since they nest on the Parker River NWR. Now other shorebirds are migrating through the area after breeding in northern Canada.
But before I get to the pictures, I have a tern picture to show. Terns aren’t a shorebird. However we got our first look at Least Tern chicks the day we were seeing the shorebirds. This is a photo of a chick that came out from underneath the mother to see another adult tern land nearby. The chick doesn’t stand out well in this photograph but I think it illustrates just how well camouflaged they are. There is a second chick under the mother’s wing and this one in this picture completely disappeared when it went back under the mother’s other wing.
There were three varieties of shorebirds at the North Pool, a fresh water pond maintained by the refuge. The water levels can be controlled and the personnel lower the levels at this time of year to provide mud flats for migrating shorebirds. The following is a selection of photographs that include Greater Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitchers and Semipalmated Plovers. I added a picture of a Piping Plover to compare with the Semipalmated Plover.
A Great Blue Heron flew over the scene as I was photographing the shorebirds. Or was it a pterodactyl? They look so primitive in flight.
Now I am hoping for a sunny day to get some more photos and see some different varieties.
Birds in My Viewfinder 