Yesterday morning's sunrise was beautiful but the clouds that made it so beautiful also threatened more rain. There was an early shower of rain soon after I took this photo so my walk on the shoreline was delayed until the sky cleared a little more. I missed the high tide but also missed the early morning walkers and the shorebirds had a chance to settle down to the important business of feeding.A pair of Pied Oystercatchers (Haematopus longirostris) can usually be found on a little rocky outcrop that becomes an island at high tide. When I went looking for them I found an Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis) and some Bar-tailed Godwits (Limosa lapponica) in the same place.
The Eastern Curlew flew off quickly but the Pied Oystercatchers ignored me and I got close enough for good photos.
A small group of Bar-tailed Godwits waded through the shallow water probing in the soft sand for food.
I watched the clouds slowly getting darker and took off for home just before another shower of rain came through.For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.
great stuff - i really really love that second shot of the oystercatchers!
ReplyDeleteThanks JN
ReplyDeleteOystercatcher are so cool with their black and red - a real classic!
ReplyDeleteToo bad the rain cut short your birding. The Oystercatchers and the Bar-tailed Godwits were good enough to compensate for that I'm sure. Great photos, Mick!
ReplyDeleteI love that sunrise Mick and it seems weird that you take pictures of Oyks and Bartails as I do more than half way round the world.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting dreamfalcon, Bob and Phil. I can always find some Pied Oystercatchers somewhere to photograph but the Godwits are a little harder to find right now. there are so few of them compared with in the middle of the summer season. The ones here now are young ones that have not migrated.
ReplyDeleteyou got rain? Please send it up north, we need some. It is always nice to see what you found for BPW.
ReplyDeleteHi Nature Footstep - well it is winter down here and we have had more rain than usual so that everything is very slippery and wet underfoot.
ReplyDeleteOystercatchers are very cool in looks and these two at least, cool characters as well. Plus, lovely sunrise to go with the birds.
ReplyDeleteThanks Wren, those 2 birds usually roost quite close to where people walk past so they get used to seeing people.
ReplyDeleteLovely birds.
ReplyDelete