What's better than seeing a Long-billed dowitcher? Why, seeing two of them at the same time, of course. I returned to Dowitcher flats this morning and found nothing but a whole lot of drying mud, much of it still shiny and hazardous to walk on without small boards strapped to my boots. I brought a black plastic garbage bag to sit on, although they say the colour of the bag is irrelevant. I had a damp log to lean against and there was a section of snow fence behind the log that just gave way enough to make it very comfortable. There was a Great egret perched on a stump completely ignoring me. After a few minutes it took offence that I should so willfully shun its dazzling magnificence and took flight to find a more appreciative audience. I spotted a Greater yellowlegs that was limping. What could make a yellowlegs limp? It was an awkward gate, for sure. As if its foot was still stuck in a tiny bucket of yellow paint and wouldn't come out. Poor thing. It won't last long.
Someone showed up all dressed in fatigues, just like me but with more gravitas. He scanned the mud and saw nothing. Walking in my direction he almost tripped over me because he didn't see me. Apparently my camo was better than his camo. "Have you seen the Dowitcher", he asked. I hadn't seen it. I assured him that it would not have fled the site, at least not until the next major north wind arrives later in the week. He didn't have the patience to wait. I did. He left the scene. I didn't. I ate a sandwich and afterwards closed my eyes for a few minutes, just breathing in the morning. When I opened my eyes again ... there were two dowitchers in front of me. They arrived in silence, like ghosts. The sun was bright, the wind non-existent and the dowitchers were feeding in the shallow water inches from the muddy shore. I relocated to a stump and let them graze toward me. I used the stump as additional concealment and to steady my lens, not that its big, but it only has "IS" first generation and I wanted to close the iris to increase my depth-of-field thereby bringing down the shutter speed. It was a good morning.
