Purple Sandpiper at TTP

[Ed O'Connor]

This has been a banner year for Purple Sandpipers in Toronto. Since the end of October, birds have been showing up regularly in eastern and western locations along the city's shoreline. Here's a photo of one of these sandpipers that I saw recently at the end of Peninsula B in Tommy Thompson Park.
Purple Sandpiper 02 by Edward O'Connor, on Flickr

[Ally]

This has been a banner year for Purple Sandpipers in Toronto. Since the end of October, birds have been showing up regularly in eastern and western locations along the city's shoreline. Here's a photo of one of these sandpipers that I saw recently at the end of Peninsula B in Tommy Thompson Park.
Purple Sandpiper 02 by Edward O'Connor, on Flickr

Very nice photo. But does he seems to be sad to you? Maybe the big dark eyes...

[thouc]

Beautiful!

[Shortsighted]

Very nice capture and I applaud you for going all the way down the spit.Way to go!Love the detail.Seems like a banner year for many species and I can't go anywhere.It sucks.

[Ally]

This has been a banner year for Purple Sandpipers in Toronto. Since the end of October, birds have been showing up regularly in eastern and western locations along the city's shoreline. Here's a photo of one of these sandpipers that I saw recently at the end of Peninsula B in Tommy Thompson Park.
Purple Sandpiper 02 by Edward O'Connor, on Flickr

Can we go before 4pm? [size=78%]I was going to to yesterday and saw the hours and went to Colonel Sam Smith instead, and someone said TTP WAS open, and the worse thing was the owl was not home at Colone Sam Smith.[/size]

[Ed O'Connor]

Hi Ally:


I believe you can go to the Spit now whenever you want, at least during daylight hours. And whenever you go, you'll be sure to see dozens of other people, dozens of other birders. Good luck.


You raised a good question about the Purple Sandpiper--if it had a look of sadness in its eyes. I think the bird probably participates in what the novelist Emile Zola called "la tristesse muette des choses"--the silent sadness of things. Zola thought this sadness appeared not just in the eyes of animals, but in many of those things that science tells us are insensate but that we suspect really do have a life of their own--discarded Christmas trees, an old pair of boots, an empty wine bottle standing upright on the street corner, books gathering dust on a shelf, an uninhabited house on the side of the road, a piece of tinsel in the grass. It was perceptive of you to see that quality in the eyes of the bird--I'm glad to hear that the photo succeeded in capturing that.

[Ally]

Hi Ally:


I believe you can go to the Spit now whenever you want, at least during daylight hours. And whenever you go, you'll be sure to see dozens of other people, dozens of other birders. Good luck.


You raised a good question about the Purple Sandpiper--if it had a look of sadness in its eyes. I think the bird probably participates in what the novelist Emile Zola called "la tristesse muette des choses"--the silent sadness of things. Zola thought this sadness appeared not just in the eyes of animals, but in many of those things that science tells us are insensate but that we suspect really do have a life of their own--discarded Christmas trees, an old pair of boots, an empty wine bottle standing upright on the street corner, books gathering dust on a shelf, an uninhabited house on the side of the road, a piece of tinsel in the grass. It was perceptive of you to see that quality in the eyes of the bird--I'm glad to hear that the photo succeeded in capturing that.

Thank you Ed. And I hope I didn't bring out the melancholy in you. Although I do like stillness of things you listed there, I also like capturing actions, like birds showing expressions, trying to even say things to us, I sometimes put captions in bird pics, maybe my wishful thinking.

Happy New Year!