Birding Bodega Bay

Although there weren’t as many birds as I’ve often seen in the past at Bodega Bay, or as many as I’d hoped for, since this was the only “birding” I had planned on this trip to California, there were enough birds to occupy me while we strolled the beach for a couple of hours.

At first it seemed that there was only a flock of Marbled Godwits spread up and down the beach, but I later realized this one was a Willet,

not a Marbled Godwit, but I didn’t recognize it first because it was in breeding plumage, not the normal grey shades I’ve seen in the past.

These wing markings definitely confirmed it was a Willet.

The bird caught my attention because it seemed to be running away from ME, though I quickly realized it wasn’t me it was running from when it suddenly headed directly back toward me

just as a large gull tried to scare it into dropping its catch.

It doesn’t always require a larger bird to scare off a bird, as this Sanderling flew toward me rather abruptly when the other Sanderling charged it.

This one, however, seemed more scared of me than it did a flock of fellow Sanderlings.

Although there weren’t really many birds on the beach, they kept me entertained by flying back and forth on the beach to avoid getting too close to us, and to all the rest of the people on the beach.

Considering how busy the beach was, I was surprised that the birds hadn’t become totally indifferent to people walking by, camera or no camera.