A Shore Birder’s paradise

I just love watching and shooting shorebirds.  As regular readers know I even travel to Churchill, Manitoba to shoot the shorebirds in their striking breeding plumage.

I have had great fun at Fort DeSoto County Park in Florida – working a Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa) when my spotter (Louise) points out a Long-billed Curlew (Numinous americanus).

Well, you can imagine the thrill of moving out onto the beach at Moro Strand State Beach in California.  Dozens of Long-billed Curlews (Numenicus americanus), dozens of Marbled Godwits (Limosa fedoa), flocks of Royal Terns (Thalasseus maximus), a few Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) among the Royal Terns, many Willets (Tringa semipalmata), the occasional Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), lots of Whimbrels (Numinous Phaeopus) and an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) flying over!

The beach has a gradual slope, so the tidal difference was magnificent and the tide was very slow to come in.  Providing a lot of opportunities to capture the birds and the water slow draining down the beach – reflections – I cannot resist reflections!!

So Moro Strand State Beach is definitely a birding location that I will return to many times.

These are some of the photographs I made, to see more click on THIS LINK to go to the new image gallery.

Click on an image to go to the gallery for that bird on my Wildlife Portfolio Website.

Black-bellied Plover (Pluvalis squatarola)

Long-billed Curlew (Numenicus americanus) finding lunch.

Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)

Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus) fishing

Whimbrel (Numinous phaeopus)

Willet (Tringa semipalmata)

Passing Osprey (Pandion heliaetus)

Gear: Nikon D4s, Nikkor 600.0mm f/4.0 VRII, Nikkor TC-17 EII, Really Right Stuff Tripod and Gimbal Head, Lexar Digital Film.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 19th, 2017 at 5:44 pm. It is filed under Birds, Color Images, Raptors, Shorebirds, Terns & Skimmers, Wildlife and tagged with Birding, Black-bellied Plover (Plurals squatarola), Long-billed Curlew (Numenicus americanus), Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa), Moro Strand State Beach California, Osprey (pandit heliaetus, Raptor, Richard King Photography, Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus), shorebirds, Whimbrel (Numinous phaeopus), wildlife photography, Willet (Tringa semipalmated), www.fulltimervingwiththekings.com, www.mothernatureimages.com, www.richardkingphoto.com. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.