Or specifically, this Saturday (May 11th,) is World Migratory Bird Day – sorry I didn’t let you know sooner, but if it were really important to you, you’d already know anyway. So I’ll take this opportunity to throw down some migratory bird pics from earlier.
Down at Jordan Lake the other day specifically to get some audio recordings (which you’ll hear later on,) I was following a particular bird call when I came across these three, who let me approach far closer than I expected. They didn’t make the calls that I was following, however, not a sound at all, which doesn’t help with identification. Here, they were standing as if stranded by the incoming tide and unwilling to get their feet wet. They were quite small and acting like juveniles, but it’s too early in the year for that, so I had to assume they were adults, potentially still in breeding plumage. I didn’t think they looked much like the spotted sandpiper that I’d photographed earlier, only forty meters or so from this spot, but that was the best I could initially say, since I’ve never studied to tell the various sandpipers apart.
It’s things like this that actually delay some posts, because I already know that distinguishing sandpipers can be a bear and I often don’t feel like doing the research for a post, not at all helped by my obsession with being correct – I know, that sounds funny when you see some of the posts where I’m vague, but I really do make the effort. And it would seem that these are least sandpipers (Calidris minutilla) – the size, patterns on the wings, lack of white spots above the eyes, and yellow legs seem to point in that direction, and their reluctance to wade seemed to cinch it. Like the spotted, quite common, I just haven’t been seeing any up close enough for decent pics until this year.
And these really did allow “close.”
This was at f8, so not particularly short depth-of-field, but not long either – it’s the high magnification from the focal length of 600mm, used at only about five meters or so, that gives the shorter focus, but it stayed locked onto the head, which was what I wanted. Nice detail from the forehead feathers and the beak.
In fact, as I stood there, not at all camouflaged or doing anything more stealthy than standing still, a couple of them started preening, completely unconcerned with my being this close. I’m not even sure I’ve seen Carolina wrens that blasé with my presence, like they thought their covering sniper had me locked in the crosshairs or something. Unlike the other shorebird that I stalked while out there:
This is potentially the best portrait I have of a killdeer (Charadrius vociferus,) because they’ve been really spooky every time I have the camera in hand – this seems especially true around Jordan Lake, but they encounter plenty of fishingfolk, partiers, and dogs around there, so I can’t really blame them. This one arced back and forth around me, out over the lake, and paused only briefly on the shore, flying off loudly before I even drew close enough to pose a threat, I would have thought; does this mean they’re really cautious, or there were other reasons that this one was taking flight back and forth? Can’t say. But the scientific name is appropriate at least, because they really are vociferous, calling loudly (and recognizably) virtually every time they take off – and I was out there with the audio equipment, so why didn’t I record it? Sitting here now, I can’t answer that question.
Anyway, get out and chase some birds Saturday. I just cleared most of my reserve bird photos from the folder, so I’ll have to get new ones myself. We’ll see what transpires.