Arriving at dawn, I had the whole place to myself.
I didn't take long to find the Willet. It was out on the dam with a flock of Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers.
Standing quietly on the wingwall of the dam, I was able to get some great looks at some of the Least Sandpipers feeding.
There were also some Semipalmated Sandpipers mixed in (upper right).
Semipalmated Sandpiper Cohoes Flats Aug. 27, 2011
One of the Semipalmated Sandpipers was hopping around on one leg. It seemed to be feeding O.K., however judging by the plumage, it was having some trouble preening out it's molting feathers. Looked kinda like it had a "5 o'clock shadow" or something.
Hard to say if it was actually injured or born that way.
Oh yeah, back to the Willet. It seemed to be having some traction problems as it tried to go as high up on the dam as the smaller peeps. Sometimes having a higher center of gravity can be a real disadvantage. Sure got that little peeps attention.
A young Bald Eagle flew over and everybody scattered. I thought for sure that the Willet was outta there.
As luck would have it, it circled around and landed right below me. How conveinent.
My shutter finger was busy.
The bird eventually worked it's way back out to the rocks below the dam. By then some coffee clatchers and sleepy-heads were showing up to see it also. Time for me to exit stage left.
The American White Pelican flew in from the west just after dawn as well. This bird has been putting on quite a show the last few weeks, and made quite an entrance this morning as it circled the Flats.
I didn't take long to find the Willet. It was out on the dam with a flock of Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers.
Standing quietly on the wingwall of the dam, I was able to get some great looks at some of the Least Sandpipers feeding.
There were also some Semipalmated Sandpipers mixed in (upper right).
Semipalmated Sandpiper Cohoes Flats Aug. 27, 2011
Hard to say if it was actually injured or born that way.
Oh yeah, back to the Willet. It seemed to be having some traction problems as it tried to go as high up on the dam as the smaller peeps. Sometimes having a higher center of gravity can be a real disadvantage. Sure got that little peeps attention.
A young Bald Eagle flew over and everybody scattered. I thought for sure that the Willet was outta there.
As luck would have it, it circled around and landed right below me. How conveinent.
My shutter finger was busy.
The bird eventually worked it's way back out to the rocks below the dam. By then some coffee clatchers and sleepy-heads were showing up to see it also. Time for me to exit stage left.
The American White Pelican flew in from the west just after dawn as well. This bird has been putting on quite a show the last few weeks, and made quite an entrance this morning as it circled the Flats.
