A Way to Attract the Girls

The Short-billed Dowitcher (Linodromus griseus) has a way with the girls during breeding season.  He flies thousands of miles north, to the Tundra and puts on his breeding plumage.  The plumage is highlighted by a bright orange (rufous) foreneck and breast.  This is irresistible to the females – the purpose of the exercise.

Then after the breeding season, the rufous disappears, turns pale and white, flies thousands of miles south and is what you would see around the coastal areas (East and West) in the United States.

These images were captured in Churchill, Manitoba.  My self-set project is to be able to get images of these shore birds in their non-breeding plumage.

The Adult Breeding plumage……

The short-billed Dowitcher also mixes with other shorebirds very easily.  Here with a Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) and a Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)  ……

And of course there is the “show”.  in this case the lady was having none of it – unrequited love for the poor Short-billed Dowitcher! ….

Sent packing!

“Phew what a relief!” she squawked.

See Complete  Short-billed Dowitcher (Linodromus griseus)  gallery HERE

Gear: Nikon D4, Nikkor 600mm f/4 VRII, Nikkor 14E II, Nikkor 20E III, RRS Tripod & Gimbal Head, Lexar Digital Film

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 31st, 2013 at 10:33 pm. It is filed under Birds, Color Images, Shorebirds, Uncategorized, Wildlife and tagged with (Linodromus griseus), adult breeding plumage, available for licensed use, bird, Canada, canvas gallery wrap for sale, Churchill, fine art print for sale, Hudson Bay, Manitoba, MB, Nikkor 600mm f/4 VRII, Nikkor TC-14e II, Nikkor TC-20e III, Nikon D4, Richard King Photography, RRS gimbal head, RRS tripod, Shorebird, shorebird images, Short-billed Dowitcher, tundra marsh, wildlife photography, www.mothernatureimages.com, www.richardkingphoto.com, www.warplaneimages.com. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.