Flighty

A mixed flock of Bonaparte's gulls and sandpipers foraged peacefully on the shore at Willow Point. I approached them carefully, one slow step at a time, stopping often to pretend I was just another rock. It didn't work. They're too smart for me.

Mostly Bonaparte's gulls, 4 sandpipers, and one plover. And their reflections.

The breeding adults have black heads; younger ones are grey and white with a black smudge behind the eye.

And the one semi-trusting gull. But he's watchful.

Elegant in black

The dunlins were feeding on Boundary Bay this afternoon; small flocks criss-crossed from sandbar to sandbar, some coming, some going, some more coming back. They never stay long in one place. I noticed that when they run on a sandbar, they all run at about the same speed, usually in the same direction, so that from a distance, they look connected, like wheels on an axle.

One group had a few odd-balls; I could see, even at a distance, solid black patches. I tiptoed up as close as they would let me; still too far for the camera's liking.

Black-bellied plovers, in full breeding regalia.

The paler version is either a female, or immature.

Some of the dunlins are wearing the black aprons, too.

And far away, halfway across the bay, a rafts of ducks and gulls waited for the tide to drop. It was going out too slowly for me; I left the birds and came home for supper.