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.