A few days ago I visited my LP (Zolina reservoir) again to see what was around and expecting either a maritime gull or any kind of wader due to the heavy NW winds that were forecasted those days.
I didn't detect any gull but in the far distance in the eastern island of the reservoir, four little shorebirds were "sewing" the mud in tight group. They seemed to be dunlins but with a 1000m distance viewing nothing to take for granted.
I decided to get closer and reasure my suspicion ,also because I had time for a little walk. The conditions were good for the telescope with no wind and filtered midday light by the cloudy sky.
As soon as I arrived to the observation spot and pointed the birds I realized that they were dunlins but one of them looked like a sanderling (much rarer indoor wader over here) due to his more compact body,shorter bill and greyer mantle/scapulars.
So I had to wait a little bit more in order to get another bird angle (and light) to confirm that it was indeed a dunlin and no a sanderling. The four of them were dressed with the winter plumage.
This november record could be the last one with the calidris gender this year....or may be not!!
The distances here are huge,very good to train the eye!
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Calidris alpina (4ex)/031119/Zolina |
Hiper cropped pic of the four migratory dunlins.
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