ML465715411

Age and sex

Adult Female - 1; Adult Male - 1

Observation details

Picking their way through the tidal mudflats, eating crabs, same as last two days. I was able to cross the estuary and get better pictures this time. Backs, napes and crowns spangled gold, white and black. One has essentially solid black cheeks, down to belly and undertail coverts. The other one has a more mottled black/white cheek and belly. Both have long primaries, and wide bands of white on the neck that stop at the chest, becoming slightly more bulbous. This seems to rule out Pacific Golden-plover. I walked to the middle of the mudflat, set up my camera with the longest telephoto I had, and knelt down, waiting for the plovers to come as close to me as they felt comfortable. The darker black one was always closer to me than the mottled one. Overall, they didn't seem very scared of me. It was a pleasure to watch these guys run around the mud flat, they are very beautiful and charismatic.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS R6

Lens

RF600mm F11 IS STM + EXTENDER RF1.4x

ISO

1600

Focal length

840 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/16.0

Shutter speed

1/1600 sec

Dimensions

2777 pixels x 2083 pixels

Original file size

2.1 MB