Thursday, June 25, 2009

Willet or Won't it?

Here's a bird I haven't managed to photograph here before; a willet.

willet3

I saw a couple of these recently but only got good shots of one as the other was spooked by that osprey. We only seem to find these on a single island here – there is a small breeding population clustered around a single set of salt ponds. I saw one last year on the same island but only fleetingly so it was nice to get a better view and some photos.

willet2

I'm not sure if its common to the species but this one had the most fantastic habit; a sort of quirky running movement on those long legs – in my experience when spooked waders of this shape tend to fly small distances as opposed to jogging them in this manner.

willet1

I was hoping for some flight shots showing those distinctive wing flashes but alas he was too quick for me on take off and veered behind some scrub where he could flap away free from press intrusion.

1 comment:

jason said...

Great shots!

And can you blame the bird for trying to avoid the paparazzi?