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The Red-capped Plover Charadrius ruficapillus is a very cute shorebird that is often seen scurrying along the shoreline around Australia. The estimated population is 95 000. They can be found in significant flocks along the coast, but also may be encountered at inland wetlands. The male bird has the “red cap” more than the female [...]

As you all get ready for the onset of spring in the northern hemisphere we are heading into autumn. In the north of Australia we also have changing colours, but it is not the foliage that changes. Those of you that are familiar with leaves turning different shades of red  can imagine the same happening to shorebirds! [...]

For as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated by shorebirds. Growing up within an hour of one of the world’s premier shorebird destinations – West Coast National Park in South Africa – helped for sure. For me, there’s a few things that drive this fascination. Firstly, shorebirds present a significant ID challenge. Getting [...]

After admiring the gannets of Cape Kidnappers and the wine of Hawke’s Bay Nicole and I took a few days to reach the next destination of interest, the Coromandel Peninsula. This chuck of land lies between New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, and the Bay of Plenty, and is a popular tourism destination due to its [...]

Other than sharing my encounter with an amazing Rock Wren I have failed to blog about my 28 December visit to Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve at all.  As always, Bolsa Chica, a restored wetland complex in Huntington Beach, California, was amazing, both for the number and variety of birds, to say nothing of the number [...]

This week a group of dedicated volunteers made the trip to 80 Mile Beach, in the north-west of Western Australia, to count the shorebirds. These MYSMA (Monitoring Yellow Sea Migrants in Australia – see eg http://www.awsg.org.au/pdfs/Report_on_MYSMA_surveys.pdf) counts have been done for several years and take place in July, November and December each year. It is [...]

Just occasionally, seemingly ordinary conditions or events can combine to create a blissfully perfect moment during which the weight of all our stresses and worries is lifted from us. Warm, moving moments such as these, comfort and inspire us, reminding us of how rich life can be. It would require no great leap of faith to [...]

Lema Ranch is one of Northern California’s birding hotspots. It is located in Shasta County, in the northern most part of the Sacramento Valley, in the city of Redding (pdf map here), about 160 miles north of Sacramento. The property is the headquarters for the McConnell Foundation, a philanthropic organization working for the betterment of [...]

Broome is known worldwide for its amazing birdlife, and Roebuck Bay is regarded as the most significant site in Australia for shorebirds. Roebuck Bay has the greatest diversity of shorebird species of any site on the planet and around 150,000 of these birds visit annually. All of this is as a result of the incredibly [...]

In this guest post Clare and Grant Morton update us on the shorebird work they’re doing in and around the world-famous shorebird site of Broome in Western Australia. Clare’s particular interest is monitoring and protecting the nests of the birds nesting along the beaches, and she also keeps a close look-out for flagged/banded shorebirds which [...]

At Jamaica Bay a couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be with birders who carefully scan through each and every bird in a flock hoping to find a rarity.  Not that I don’t do that, but I tend to get distracted by whatever bird happens to be closest and in good light [...]

The White-rumped Sandpiper is an entertaining shorebird, aggressive and ornery, willing to chase other birds from the area it is feeding in no matter how abundant the food source is.  Their long wings extend past their tail and give them a sleek look even when they are in the midst of fattening up for their [...]

Shortly after posting this gallery of juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers I was back on the East Pond of Jamaica Bay and had perhaps the most cooperative dowitcher ever decide to forage to within five meters.  I like these pictures even more than I like the stuff from the gallery.  So, rather than beat around the bush, [...]

Juvenile Least Sandpipers are among the most beautiful of shorebirds.  Their gorgeous white-fringed feathers and propensity for allowing close approach combine to make them a treat every single summer during shorebird season.  Sure, young Short-billed Dowitchers are also attractive creatures, American Avocets and Wilson’s Phalaropes are just plain neat to see, and everyone likes to [...]

Short-billed Dowitchers are one of those species that, at least for me, fade into the background once I have seen my first of the year.  In the summer I start to pay attention to them again until I find a Long-billed Dowitcher hiding among them, and then I have pretty much had enough of dowitchers [...]

Will has already written about the first part of our birding adventure from this past Friday so you should definitely click through and read his account if you want to have some idea what this blog post is about, but, if you don’t, well, don’t say you haven’t been warned. Anyway, it was as Will [...]

A recent visit to the East Pond of the Jamaica Bay got me up close and personal with quite a few species of shorebird, among them several Pectoral Sandpipers.  Calidris melanotos is not at all a rarity in Queens during the fall migration but it is not so common a shorebird that one would want [...]

This year has been a good year to see Wilson’s Phalaropes at Jamaica Bay.  There were several that stopped by this spring on their way north, including the pair that spent several days on the East Pond’s algae mats, and at least two have been present on the East Pond this summer, fattening up before [...]

When we left our intrepid pair of birders we had thoroughly enjoyed the appetizers of seawatching and sparrow-seeking and were hungry for the main course of rare-for-New York terns.  Forgive me if I stretch the gastronomic analogy a bit too far, but Patrick and I could practically taste the Sandwich Terns that we were sure [...]

Normally when Wilson’s Phalaropes Phalaropus tricolor stop by at Jamaica Bay they are on their fall migration and have already lost their breeding finery and are an unremarkable gray and white bird.  Don’t get me wrong; seeing a phalarope is usually one of the highlights of a shorebird search but I always thought that someday [...]