Wading Shore and Water Birds

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Let alone the normal birds around, I’ve been enjoying my last couple weeks’ latest sightings of the new birds arriving or passing through our area, including the wading shore and water birds.  Here’s what I’ve captured!

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Common Loon (male)
Eastern Neck NWR

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Bufflehead (female)
St. Mills Pond (pollen-laden)

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Killdeer
Chesapeake Farms

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Greater Yellowlegs
Eastern Neck NWR

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Lesser Yellowlegs
Chesapeake Farms

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Greater Yellowlegs (left) and Lesser Yellowlegs (right) comparison
Chesapeake Farms

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Solitary Sandpiper
Chesapeake Farms

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Pectoral Sandpipers
Chesapeake Farms

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Least Sandpipers
Chesapeake Farms

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Semipalmated Plover joining the Least Sandpipers
Chesapeake Farms

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Short-billed Dowitchers
Chesapeake Farms

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Short-billed Dowitchers
Chesapeake Farms

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And finally, two special rare sightings this past week at the same location, what super fun!!

The first I was tipped off with an ebird alert on a lone American Avocet, keeping its distance from everyone across the pond.  I’ve photographed this bird before but not in our county, so off I went the next morning to find it.

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American Avocet
Chesapeake Farms

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American Avocet

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And the same two days I photographed the above avocet, I got the second rare surprise sighting on my own, a lone Glossy Ibis.  What a beauty!

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Glossy Ibis
Chesapeake Farms

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Glossy Ibis

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Glossy Ibis
Second day (and yes I was birding in an on/off drizzle)

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And now you know one of the reasons why I’ve been MIA on the blog-sphere so much lately.  I am out and about, rain or shine, having bird-blast adventures!

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