Plovers

A few shots from this afternoon at Rottingdean. The tide was in (not my preferred time for visiting), which meant a hike in the direction of the Marina to find any shoreline. It proved a worthwhile visit. At first all I could see were some black-headed gulls nesting down among the sea weed. Then I spotted some movement. Plovers. Lots of ringed plovers (with plenty of juveniles among them). Among them one bird stood out, head and shoulders above the rest: a grey plover.
Grey Plover

This was a first for me. Like the black-headed gull the dark plumage will fade over winter, but at the moment it was very distinctive.
Grey plover in flight

There was just one grey, but countless ringed plovers. They merge perfectly with the pebble beach, and can be incredibly difficult to spot from a distance. These are juveniles (I'm basing the identification on the white stripe above the eye… they are very similar to the 'little ringed plover'.
Ringed plovers (juveniles)

More juveniles

Adult ringed plover

There seems to be a running theme in recent posts of birds flocking. Well the plovers have clearly been following this blog, and on several occasions took to the air for a quick circuit.
A passing cormorant stops to watch as they fly past

Heading back

Touch down
Nature Blog Network
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

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This Post Has 13 Comments

  1. RobinL

    3 Sep 2010

    What wonderful shots! And what a wonderful life sighting! Congratulations! The Plovers are such tiny little things. Very pretty. They are still on my to see list.

  2. gdare

    3 Sep 2010

    Cormorant looks like a submarine periscope 😀

  3. Mickeyjoe-Irl

    3 Sep 2010

    Originally posted by Words:

    Among them one bird stood out

    Standing out being a relative term, 😉 took me a minute to spot it against the stones.

  4. Words

    4 Sep 2010

    Robin, thanks. We see quite a few ringed plovers locally, but the grey plover was a first for me (and quite a bit taller than the others).

  5. Mickeyjoe-Irl

    4 Sep 2010

    :doh:

  6. Words

    4 Sep 2010

    Erwin, thanks!

  7. Words

    4 Sep 2010

    Mick, it may have taken a moment to spot the grey plover, but did you notice the ringed plover in the foreground of the same shot?

  8. Words

    4 Sep 2010

    Darko, I only spotted the cormorant when I processed the photo. Just like a submarine :pirate:

  9. SittingFox

    5 Sep 2010

    Excellent! :hat: Another species that I've never seen.

  10. Words

    5 Sep 2010

    Adele, thanks. It doesn't happen often, but one of the great joys is spotting a new species in a familiar patch.

  11. Ukwildlife

    3 Oct 2010

    Great set of waders 🙂

  12. Words

    3 Oct 2010

    Neil :cheers:

  13. Wulpen

    19 Oct 2012

    Great Shots :up:

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