Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Summer's end



Well, that's it. Time to get ready for fall. One last excursion. To Duxbury Beach. In search of Ruddy Turnstone.

The beach was very crowded for a Wednesday afternoon. Nevertheless, sanderlings and semipalmated sandpipers managed to forage in between sprawled out sun worshippers and whiffleball games.


A kind gentleman up the beach noticed my binoculars. He waved me over. "Up there in the rocks, do you see it?"

I ask you the same question, dear readers. Do you see it?


"My wife thinks it's a ruddy turnstone. What do you think?"

Indeed it was!

"She's right again!" We chatted for a while about the difficulty of shorebird and gull IDs. We parted, I tried to track down the turnstone for better photos. They are fast walkers and it's hard to get them in focus.

Great fortune. A half-eaten crab on the beach, already attracting sanderlings and sandpipers. The turnstone stopped for a bite.



A truly gorgeous bird, even when not in full breeding plumage.


So I had my target bird. There was still time to stop at Daniel Webster on the way back and sit in the blind for a while.

Hello, solitary sandpiper. (Surprisingly difficult to get a good shot of this sleepy bird).


And what was that? Oh a pie-billed grebe. Flying across the water towards me! (The pie-billed looks like a tiny bird until you see its enormous belly in flight). Best photo of this one yet.


And when I got home, who was waiting but the neighborhood turkeys. About a dozen of them. Nice way to cap off the summer.


Here comes the fall.

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