Once the tide goes out and uncovers all the rockpools there are rich pickings
Starting off on safe ground as I've previously been told that these are Whimbrels by Mike Woodcock, a wildlife artist not a million miles away from me in Kent Mike's blog
Handsome birds with a taste for small crabs obviously:
There are two in this picture (one on extreme right and one on the left halfway down) - very well disguised against the volcanic rocks - till they move of course
yum yum
Imagine if you were a little crab and this loomed above you .... nightmarish or what??
and there's no escaping that probing beak
I believe this is a Godwit but not sure what type ..... Bartailed perhaps?
Sanderlings?
Now these little chaps are just everywhere along the coastline ... but probably the best camouflaged of the lot - luckily they are noisy so give their positions away :-) I think they are Ruddy Turnstones
In this photo they can be seen quite clearly against the sand
but once amongst the rocks they are very hard to spot ... there are 3 Ruddy Turnstones in this photo with the gull
and these are all Plovers, there are Kentish Plovers, Ringed Plovers, Little Ringed Plovers and Grey Plovers on the island and the images I've seen on the internet seem confused/confusing ... but Mike Woodcock (wildlife artist) has kindly identified these for me
Ringed Plover (juvenile)
the one at the back with a longer beak than the others is a Dunlin
and another juvenile Ringed Plover
Don't want to bore you with too many, but I had great fun watching these and will spend more time learning about them and hopefully getting better shots next visit when I'll have a new camera to play with :-)
I think we've decided that the 'bridge' camera we'll be buying next is the new Panasonic FZ150. It ticks all the boxes in that it can be used by a non-techie like me, but has lots of manual controls should I/we decide to improve our skills. Its compact enough to travel in handluggage and not horribly expensive although we've decided to purchase from tried and trusted Jessops in the UK which will be more expensive than buying online from a Chinese supplier but we'll have peace of mind should we have any problems with the camera. All the reviews I've read have been very good so just a case of waiting till our local store gets one in stock - we can order online (to save money) for local collection instore.
Nice shots Sue. Whimbrel you don't need help with anymore! Your godwit is a Black-Tailed (note the black tail!) Then Sanderlings and Ruddy Turnstones (Well done). Your plover is a Ringed Plover (Juv), the other bird in the shot with Ringed Plovers is a Dunlin and finally another Ringed Plover Juvenile.
ReplyDeletei would def. take up bird watching if i went there. so many different birds to put on a life list :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike ... didn't like to bother you again but really pleased you visited and helped me out here. There are a lot of 'wrongly identified' birds on Google Images which really confused me.
ReplyDeleteI'm gradually learning more about birds Jennifer, both here in Kent and in the Canaries ... but there are just so many species (and then the juveniles, females, males all differ)! Its a huge learning curve!
Soem lovely captures in there Sue, lovely to see. As you know I love birds too but, I still have problems with the waders!
ReplyDeleteThanks Chrissy. I'm embarrassed that we've had our house on Fuerteventura for 8 years and this is the first year I've really 'seen' the birds. Seems the more I learn about them, the more I find I don't know (if that makes sense).
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