ML417553341
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
It was one of those very, very special sightings because, unlike some instances with such sight-specific and loyal birds as Waders, we really, really had to work for it. After hours of trudging up and down the beach, no fewer than four times in my personal case, I was done with silently coaxing, threatening and generally trying to convince the Sand-Plover to appear. I was pretty much resigned to heading home empty handed, baked by the sun, my legs starting to hurt from moving through sand... but then... credit where credit is due, this was entirely the old man's triumph; he waved me down from afar, and with just one look I knew this was going to be it. All my adventures so far... and now, sweet success!!! That was the only reason I would be waved down like that. Anyway; hiding behind an isolated tussock of dune grass, we found ourselves looking over a very flat, open area of sand, quite unlike the debris ridges where most of the photographs of the Sand-Plover have been taken. This wide open sand basin was alive with the little feather hummocks of Red-Caps and Stints... and... a little to my own credit, I did manage to refind the bird, seeing as Dad obviously had to come and fetch me... and what a moment of instant recognition it was!! The Sand-Plover was towering head and shoulders above the rest of its friends as it contentedly combed through its back feathers with that absolutely gigantic gladius of a bill; all I could think at first was "imagine being a crab and that weapon being the last thing you see"! Indeed, so big was the bird, I actually saw the larger shape even before zooming in with the camera!! What a giant!! What a gentle giant!! The more time I spent with it, the more the Sand-Plover grew on me for its incredibly unique quirks and personality...
Technical information
- Model
- COOLPIX B600
- ISO
- 125
- Focal length
- 309.6 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire
- f-stop
- f/6.5
- Shutter speed
- 1/1600 sec
- Dimensions
- 4608 pixels x 3456 pixels
- Original file size
- 10.12 MB