25 August 2013. Hamilton ON. From the sublime to the ridiculous: early this week we draped ourselves in the tranquility of cottage country; today I was back to the fringes of the industrial harbour, a monochromatic manufacturing landscape with grubby and scratchy places for bird watching. But some birds, mostly shorebirds, don’t care about scenery provided there are plenty of wriggly invertebrates to eat.
I went out early, before breakfast, while the sun was behind me rather than glowering overhead, to see what might be probing the muddy reaches. It was pleasant enough under the circumstance although my first notable sighting was a Norway Rat tumbling into a broad waterway apparently having caused considerable anxiety to an on-looking, tail-bobbing and still-peeping Spotted Sandpiper.
A careful sweeping survey of the mud flats turned up a distant Short-billed Dowitcher, several Lesser Yellowlegs and a handsome pair of Stilt Sandpipers. I found and enjoyed watching a couple of Semi-palmated Plovers, our only reasonably common small plover, and mentally compared them to the very similar though much paler Piping Plover seen in New Jersey last year and petite Snowy Plovers of El Salvador four months ago. These three plovers are all members of the Charadrius genus, a group that is distinctive in having a dark breast band or two, our common Killdeer is the most familiar member of the genus to us. Here are a few of my pictures for comparison (viewable only if you are logged in to My Bird of the Day, not if you’re reading this as an email.)
It was a couple of Black-bellied Plovers that stole the show though. It’s not that they’re better than any of the Charadrius plovers in any way, I mean how can you say any one bird is better than another, it is such a subjective measure. It’s just that the Black-bellied Plover evoked my Wow!-response, quite why I’m not sure, they just did. Perhaps it’s the drama of the coal-black belly against the checkered upper parts, it could be their postural uprightness, the pop-up head or well, who knows? Whatever, I always enjoy soaking up the sight of Black-bellied Plovers whenever I get the privilege. Today was one of those days.
