Ideally, I would like In a Dark Time to be a journal; I would like to write about what I’ve done that day or the day before. Unfortunately, life is seldom ideal, and that seems to get truer as I age. Last year I fell so far behind in blog entries that I had to admit, “I’ve fallen behind, and I can’t catch up.” As a result I ended up not posting for several months. I’ve resolved not to fall into thats trap again, though I’m not sure how I will manage not to fall behind because I’m already behind in posting pictures I’ve taken a month ago.
After going to Ocean Shores too early to see the Shorebird Spring Migration, I went back on May 8th and got a lot of pictures that I really liked. Unfortunately, I was still publishing shots I liked that I had taken on our Arizona/California trip. I was on a roll with publishing entries until I had to spend over a week trying to fix my blog before finally switching hosts to resolve the problems. By the time I finally fixed that, I had to work in the yard and get ready for our trip to Colorado.
To make a long story short, I’m always going to publish the pictures I really like even if they’re not from the day, or even the week, before. Beauty is beauty and transcends the moment. I loved seeing this little Semi-palmated Plover when we started walking the beach.
We didn’t have to walk much further to spot this little Western Sandpiper in breeding plumage running along the surf.
I was even more excited to sight this Ruddy Turnstone a little further down the beach.
We ended up seeing more Ruddy Turnstones flying up and down the beach in the next mile than I have ever seen before. I must have gotten at least forty shots of them, making it difficult to decide which of them to post here.
I’m not sure what they eat, but, unlike the Western Sandpipers who seemed content to probe the sand as the tide came in,
the Ruddy Turnstones seemed attracted to the piles of kelp scattered on the beach. Google tells me they are omnivores but feed mainly on insects during breeding season, so perhaps they were attracted to the bugs feeding on the kelp.
It was disappointing not to see any of the larger shorebirds that migrate in Spring, but I was glad to see all the shorebirds we did. The beach is a magical place during Spring and Fall Migration season.
Your pictures are amazing as always, Loren. I’m glad you still post pictures you took previously because they are all worth seeing no matter when they were taken!