Wednesday 9 October 2013

Wandering like a Tattler

On July 28th, while on a trip to Richmond, I decided to twitch the oh-so-popular Wandering Tattler at the Iona South Jetty.

On the way along the jetty, I bumped into a nice little juvy Bonaparte's Gull lazily swimming in the water. Double-crested Cormorants were floating by, and a pack on 72 Greater Scaup were huddled out in the water. Many Glaucous-winged Gulls were zipping past, cruising along with the wind, and two or three Glaucous-winged X Western Gull hybrids were also counted. By one of the covered benches, a lonely Barn Swallow was swirling back and forth with the gusts. I started looking hard for the tattler around marker 145, because it had been seen from marker 150-185.

The rock-loving shorebird was becoming more and more un-omnipresent, if you know what I mean. If you don't, it means that the bird was being elusive. It could be hiding a few feet away, behind a rock, and out of site. I was losing hope at marker 170, but my eyes had been trained on a distant "tattler-perfect" habitat, which had big rocks, and a ton of barnicles. I said to myself, "if it's not in that section, I will call the bird a no-show", as I was nearing the place. My fingers crossed, I approached the rocks, slowing my pace to a crawl. Then, my heart skipped a beat ( maybe two or three ), as I saw a grey, chunky shorebird looking at me from an exposed log. TATTLER!!! I screamed in my head. With hands salty from the salt-mixed wind, I grabbed my camera and clicked away. He didn't seem to mind, viewing me without a care in the world.


I'm a wanderer, oh a wanderer, goin' round and round and............................ ^


 
Oh, goody! Time to fluff out the ol' feathers! ^



Hmmm................ Wonder what's down there? ^


 
And here comes the star of the show! ^



Huff! Ung! Puff! Vertical climbing is hard when you just ate seafood! ^



Geez, person! Stop staring at me! ^


Oh, come on! I like to have a little fun with my feathered subjects!









 
 


2 comments:

  1. Love the post Logan! Not very often adult Wanderers stick around for so many adoring fans!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Russ! Yes, I was surprised too!

    ReplyDelete