I have hit the lakefront in Milwaukee a few times in the last week or so with hopes to see some migrating shorebirds. McKinley Beach was the hot spot this morning. Today was the first sighting of them for me for the fall migration here and it was a fun time to see the first of them. Present were, 2 Semipalmated Plovers, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, 7 Sanderlings, 1 Least Sandpiper, and a Semipalmated Sandpiper. It was a full sun morning, with a nice cool breeze off the lake to start the day. Images were taken on August 22, 2018.
Sanderling with something to eat at the end of the bill…
Sanderling with some to eat…
Least Sandpiper moving along the shore…
Lesser Yellowlegs just about to grab something to eat…
Lesser Yellowlegs with something to eat…
Semipalmated Plover posing…
Semipalmated Plover getting something to eat…
Least Sandpiper, sitting low for a couple of moments….I have seen this action when a predator is in the area, I looked up but did not see anything…
Sanderling on the algae…
Lesser Yellowlegs moving about…
Lesser Yellowlegs, wings up here because of a recent wave, in search of food…
Least Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs looking for food…, that is all they do it seems…
Lesser Yellowlegs with a worm…
Sanderling
Lesser Yellowlegs with a little wave action…
Sanderling with something in the bill to eat…
Least Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs walking through the algae, in search of food…
Sanderling, the close up…
Lesser Yellowlegs looking…
Semipalmated Plover lays on the sand trying to be flat and unnoticed as a predator must be around, it does this for about 10 seconds and I see its eyes look up on occasion…
Semipalmated Plover stands with a fly in its bill…
Semipalmated Plover walking and looking on the beach…
Better than the bird books.
Thank you so much.
Great pics as always, Jim! Shore birds are beautiful, and I too have enjoyed getting some images of them at Horicon Marsh. However, I will have to hit the lakefront at some point this weekend. It seems you can get much closer to the birds for better photo ops than you can at Horicon Marsh (along Hwy. 49). Thanks for sharing your work with us as you do. Always enjoy!
Beautiful closeups. All the details are there. Thanks, Jim.