After receiving a phone call from Mick to tell us about all the waders at Inskip Point on Wednesday afternoon, it was decided that Thursday's high tide at 6 in the morning would be a good time to meet up and check what was out there. Most were in various stages of breeding plumage.
Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis)
Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)
Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris)
Bar-tailed Godwit
Great Knot
Bar-tailed Godwit
Great Knot
Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea)
The deciding factor for our early morning start, leaving in the dark, was Mick's report of a Curlew Sandpiper in breeding plumage. But trying to find such a small bird in a flock of over 4000 mixed waders was easier said than done. After much waiting and patience it finally paid off, and we managed to get quite a few Curlew Sandpiper in different stages of breeding plumage. We even managed to see the red starting to show on the front of the Red-necked Stint.
Bar-tailed Godwit
Great Knot
Curlew Sandpiper (Front)
Little Tern (Sterna albifrons)
Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus)
Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis)
Thanks Mick for the great morning out, without you we would not have been able to have a chance of seeing a Curlew Sandpiper with breeding plumage.
7 comments:
Lovely photos. It was a great morning! And so nice to have someone with me that enjoyed the birds and helped me look for "the needle in the haystack"!
Thanks Mick glad we were able to join you.
It looks like you had a great time, painstaking maybe, but rewarding too! I love all those subtle colors of the shorebirds.
More great shorebird photos! I can't wait until the weather warms up here and they return.
Thanks Larry & MaineBirder looks like you won't have long to wait.
Nice work Neil (and Mick).
Loved the shots of terns 2 species in one frame really shows size differences.
Great Waders too.
Cheers
Denis
Thanks Denis
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