At the Beach Again

My second trip to the beach in the last few weeks was quite different from the first. In fact, it was almost diametrically opposite. To begin with, I went to Westport/Long Beach first because the high tide was earlier than the week before, around 1 PM.

Arriving long before I high tide, I went to Westport where the Brown Pelicans were in full flight, and I spent considerable time taking pictures of them. This one’s breeding colors were beginning to fade,

adult Brown Pelican

while this appeared to be a first-year juvenile.

juvenile Pelican

I was so fascinated with the pelicans that I almost forgot to leave to arrive at Bottle Beach two hours before high tide.

What I did arrive the Black-Bellied Plovers were already there, though quite aways off shore.

Black-Bellied Plovers

Knowing I had a long time to wait before the other shorebirds would arrive, I focused on taking pictures of them. This shot of one resting on a small “island” was probably my favorite of the shoot,

Black-Bellied Plover

though I certainly wish it had been in its breeding, not its wintering colors.

It wasn’t too long before small flocks of dowitchers began to land around me

flock of Dowitchers Landing

and I changed my focus to trying to get close-ups of them feeding.

Dowitcher

Despite the fog, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of birds that showed up, particularly since I had been “skunked” on my previous visit to Bottle Beach.

5 thoughts on “At the Beach Again”

  1. The second pelican picture – Oh!!! It’s excitingly, timelessly beautiful, not quite real, like a mythical creature in a medieval manuscript illlumination.

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