#Shore Birds

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

If any bird was going to be recognized for its pride, it would be the fabulous ruff. This bird was one of the first species in which homosexual behaviour was documented by a naturalist, Edmund Selous, in 1906!

(Image: A pair of male ruffs (Calidris pugnax) by Sulin Gopalan)

If you like what I do, consider buying me a ko-fi!

[kavohh707]

More sanderlings, because they are so cute.

[bwwhitney]

Hunting for Sunday morning breakfast

[wormbones]

[swede1952]

Waterside Watcher

I love finding great blue herons (Ardea herodias) hunting in the Louisiana lakes. Herons and egrets are not a rare sight, but I still feel privileged every time I see one. In this photo, I like the way the camera captured the heron's reflection in the water.

I don't post all of the photos that I post here to my Pixels gallery, but I post the photos I like best. Some don't make the cut. I most likely will post this one to the gallery even though I I think that have a similar photo, framed differently, posted there already. I usually wait a couple of days to see how I feel about it then.

You can check out my gallery at: swede1952-photographs.pixels.com

[richs-pics]

Curlew, Greatham Creek

[shelovesplants]

At the beach this morning and saw this Egret and he kept trying to fly, but apparently his wings are injured 😪 so I called wildlife services in my area and reported it, so I'm really hoping they help him and nurse him back to health 🙌💯

[thomas--bombadil]

A Ring-Billed gull stops for a portrait.  

[admiralgiggles]

Another new find for me is the Greater Yellowlegs.

You also get the alternate take where it looks like it’s meditating because I couldn’t decide between the two.

[salmonidae]

a few pictures i snapped of some sanderlings (calidris alba) on a beach in naples, florida. i was lucky enough to catch them hunting for food! the crustaceans that they're eating are atlantic mole crabs (emerita talpoida).

sanderlings nest exclusively in the high arctic canadian islands, but spend their falls and winters on sandy beaches all around the world. some populations live as far north as southern alaska, nova scotia and newfoundland, while others travel much farther south to south america. though their preferred diet consists of marine invertebrates such as small crabs, mollusks, and amphipods, they may also feed on small flying insects or plants such as grass seeds or algae.

sanderlings are primarily monogamous, but the mating system may differ from year to year. monogamous sanderling pairs will stick together no matter where they are (love wins!). during both migration and wintering periods, sanderlings may form flocks with other small shorebirds like willets and sandpipers and they'll roost in massive flocks of thousands of birds at a time!

x

[toytulini]

July 2022

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

For snails, traveling long distances can be a bit of a challenge due to their size and extremely slow speed. Fortunatelly, snails in the genus Physa have found a workaround! In early February, about 20-30 snails will attach themselves to the wings of an upland sandpiper and hitch a ride south with the bird's migration.

(Images: The freshwater snail Physa acuta and its temporary host the upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda) by David Liebman and Nick Varvel respectively)

[tripodsandturbulence]

September 2023

We had one of our best road trips ever this year. A week spent in the perfect little place on the ocean in Port Hardy, followed by 5 nights in the Bella Coola Valley, where all my bear dreams came true. I never thought I would be able to get up close and personal with Grizzly bears like this. It was all made as safe as possible for the bears and the humans by the amazing park rangers and guides who work there. And it is an experience I will never forget.

[wingedjewels]

Dowitcher by Kip Hutchison Via Flickr: Walking the shoreline amongst the Seaweed.

[heather-rajendran]

Northern lapwings (Vanellus vanellus) photo I took 08/10/2023, Wintersett, West Yorkshire, UK

[swede1952]

At the Shore

It will be a scorcher today, how about a beach scene. It's interesting that shore birds at the beach almost always face the ocean. In this photo there are royal terns (Thalasseus maximus) with the orange bills, Forester's terns (Sterna forsteri), the smaller birds in front, and there are some ring-bill gulls Larus (delawarensis) mixed int among the terns. I took this photograph and Holly Beach, Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico.

I don't post all of the photos that I post here to my Pixels gallery, but I post the photos I like best. Some don't make the cut. I usually wait a couple of days and see how I feel about it then.

You can check out my gallery at:

https://swede1952-photographs.pixels.com