black-bellied plover

Black-bellied Plover in Wooley Lagoon near Nome, Alaska.

Mostly the waders along the Bay Trail sort themselves into flocks-of-a-feather, but these two were sharing a rock quite amicably as they waited for the tide to go out.

I had always wondered why I would see this plover on the coast, but never the Golden-Plover. Then Stanley told me they feed mainly inland in fields.

This day was not for birding, but I thought I'd bring my camera anyway. By the end of the day I was glad I had.

The two up front and center are the Black-bellies, to the right is a Short-billed Dowitcher, and behind it is a Dunlin.

This bird was foraging in upland (dry) tundra.

Finally made it into February, and it seems I'm at Bunche Beach State Park, at San Carlos Bay, Ft Myers. This coastline is just before you get on the causeway to Sanibel Island.

The waders seemed quite at ease while foraging in and along this tidal pool, at Estero, Florida.

What a monster!

This juvenile comes close to looking like American Golden Plover but the bill is quite heavy, the flank pattern isn't quite right and supercillium (eyebrow) is less clean. I would have seen the black "armpits" in the field, which aside from the bill is the only truly useful feature.

I love these guys. I saw my first five yesterday, only one of which was full breeding plumage. This photo is from May, 2012.

I have never seen a golden plover here, maybe this week.

juvenile, waiting out high tide

Foraging along the shore south of San Diego in a heavy surf

This may be an American Golden-Plover. Only the experts can say for sure. Please feel free to chime in.

Juvenile Black-bellied Plover from the municipal beach at Port Burwell. October 2011.

The one in the backround looks to be a yellowlegs, but someone else may know better.

In Norway these are called "tundralo" - tundra plovers. Here, they are shorebirds. I saw one at the mudflats in Tokyo last summer, but didn't get much of a picture of it. Didn't do all that well this time either. While the "peeps" didn't seem to mind much my watching them...

Adult nonbreeding

High tide has driven a group of this waders to the pilings.