Off shore

When I woke up this morning, I walked out to my dock in the backyard and was surprised to see the tide was the lowest I'd ever seen (since I moved here in June) and a lot of mud was exposed. I was hoping to see crabs, but could not see any (I've only gotten to photograph mangrove tree crabs). It wasn't until early afternoon I was able to get out of the house, but I took my bike to Indian Beach Park with camera and binoculars in tow. When I saw the two raptors (perhaps vultures?) overhead on my way there, I had a good feeling I'd have some good luck finding some interesting wildlife.

I've come to bird-watch at the park a few times before, but this time I wore my water shoes. Wading out into the shallow water, I kept my eyes peeled to the water in front of me and I was rewarded with the presence of multiple hermit crabs! I'm pretty sure I saw other crabs as well, but they were too quick for me to focus on. I was very surprised though, to come across a whopping hermit crab who had found a home in a conch shell! I'm not familiar with the diet of these creatures, but I was scared for a smaller, nearby hermit crab, who the big one scuttled over. Luckily, the little guy was still there (alive and well) when the large one crawled away.

After the excitement of the crabs, I kept wading parallel to shore, and was thrilled to find a group of birds I had never seen before. Most of the bird here are recently new to me, having moved here from the New England area, but I've almost become jaded by the amount of brown pelicans, snowy egrets and great egrets I see on a daily basis. But these new birds had long, upward curved bills I'd not yet seen on a bird before. The sun was behind them, so I was trying to get the best shots I good with unfortunate lighting, but they flew off before I even thought I was close enough to scare them. But today is my lucky day because they landed back in the water back behind me with better lighting (score!).

And to make it even better, I saw a lone bird at the shore I also didn't recognize, and was able to get some photos of (even if I couldn't get close enough for a crisp shot). At first glance, I thought it to be a sand piper, but after posting on iNat, was corrected and learned it was a Killdeer, a type of plover. I had never even heard of a plover until a few months ago, but I'm learning as I go, and I love the help I've been getting from this online community.

Publicado el noviembre 3, 2020 02:48 MAÑANA por gemela-dos gemela-dos

Observaciones

Fotos / Sonidos

Observ.

gemela-dos

Fecha

Noviembre 2, 2020 a las 12:01 TARDE EST

Descripción

Reddish hermit crab inside a large shell.

Etiquetas

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Chorlo Tildío (Charadrius vociferus)

Observ.

gemela-dos

Fecha

Noviembre 2, 2020 a las 12:29 TARDE EST

Etiquetas

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Avoceta Americana (Recurvirostra americana)

Observ.

gemela-dos

Fecha

Noviembre 2, 2020 a las 12:26 TARDE EST

Descripción

Group of six birds, wading in shallow waters near shore.

Etiquetas

Comentarios

No hay comentarios todavía.

Agregar un comentario

Acceder o Crear una cuenta para agregar comentarios.