Three Trips to Presqu'ile: The Shores are Alive.

[paul_reeves]

I drove to Presqu'ile on September 7th, and 14th and thought that would probably be it until the Hudsonian Godwit was reported to be hanging out with a Whimbrel on Gull Island. That led to a third drive out on the 18th and wading out to the island for 11 hours including sitting in Lake Ontario for over an hour slowly approaching the stars of the day to get them in the best light. The three trips were well worth the effort, though as I got a ton of Shorebird shots including a lifer. Unfortunately I missed the Red Knots.

Here's the link to the "Shorebird" section of my website if you want to see more than I have posted here.
http://www.paulreeves.ca/paul_reeves_photography/nature/birds/water_birds/shorebirds/shorebirds.html

American Golden Plover???


Baird's Sandpiper


Black-bellied Plover???


Dunlin


Hudsonian Godwit


Least Sandpiper


Pectoral Sandpiper


Ruddy Turnstone


Sanderling


Semipalmated Plover


Semipalmated Sandpiper


Whimbrel


White-rumped Sandpiper

[Rotarran]

Wow that's a fantastic shore-bird series.  Shore-bird bonanza.

[Dinusaur]

Lovely series. I hope some stays put till next week-end - it is looking gorgeous weather-wise.

[Paul O'Toole]

Awesome trip and shots. I couldn't get close to the whimbrel but did manage a snap for ID purposes. Love the sanderling with the algae in its bill. Looks like the Godwit was towards the centre area of gull island based on the soft sand, nice shot.

[paul_reeves]

Wow that's a fantastic shore-bird series. Shore-bird bonanza.

Thanks Rotarran, this year was definitely a bonanza for me.

Lovely series. I hope some stays put till next week-end - it is looking gorgeous weather-wise.

Thank you Dinusaur and good luck.

Awesome trip and shots. I couldn't get close to the whimbrel but did manage a snap for ID purposes. Love the sanderling with the algae in its bill. Looks like the Godwit was towards the centre area of gull island based on the soft sand, nice shot.

Thanks Paul. I didn't know that Sanderlings like salad with their meals. I was crawling/sitting in the water on the south shore for the Godwit and it was standing on the dried out algae. The Whimbrel was fairly skittish for me as well, but at the end of an hour or so of being in the water for the Godwit, it started moving towards me so I just sat and waited for it to get into range.

[Reuven_M]

Your Black-bellied looks like a Golden-plover and your Semipalmated is actually another Least.

[paul_reeves]

Your Black-bellied looks like a Golden-plover and your Semipalmated is actually another Least.

Thanks Reuven.

Looking closer at my Semipalmated, yes, that was a Least. I thought those were dark legs when in fact they are muddy yellow/green legs. I have replaced that image with another Semipalmated (I think) I got. As for the Plover, what leads you to believe it is an American Golden as opposed to a Black-bellied? I can't tell the difference from some other birds I got on an earlier trip that I was told were Black-bellies.

I have relabelled that bird as an American Golden Plover and added another Black-bellied Plover shot.

Thanks.

[BetCrooks]

Just thought I'd mention I saw this site that has some comparison photos of bill size, ear spot, wing length etc.
http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/AMGP_BBPL.html