In the beginning of the month, two friends and I headed to the coast for some birding in New Jersey. It was a great trip for both birding and bird photography. Shorebirding can often be frustrating since I am still a beginner with them and I usually see them far away through a scope. We had a nice break from scope views during this trip and were able to admire their real beauty up close. The following birds are some of the more cooperative shorebirds that we found at Forsythe and Stone Harbor. See the captions for more information on the birds.
We got great looks at this Least Sandpiper at Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge
We went to Stone Harbor and found some very cooperative Semipalmated Sandpipers
A couple of Ruddy Turnstones were with them
We found some Sanderlings on a jetty
Just a few Sanderlings…
Perhaps a few hundred Sanderlings…
As the tide came in the Sanderlings were flying off the jetty to the sand
I’ve never seen so many shorebirds running with the waves
There was an extremely cooperative Semipalmated Plover with them
I was happy to finally get good photos of this species!
A couple of Dunlin were also present
Along with them were Western Sandpipers
And of course, more Sanderlings
And even more Sanderlings looking at Sanderlings