Hello friends! Today I’m featuring one flock of birds, the American Avocets that stopped by last week. I don’t know what it is about avocets, but from the day I get the first whiff of fall migration I look for avocets every day. I wake up every morning wondering if today will be the day they stop by. I watched them fly around the lake for over an hour. Maybe I’m an avocet at heart, I don’t know, but they truly are one of my favorite birds.
Without further ado, here are some photos of my avocet friends for today:
This is how I first saw the avocets. They have such a distinctive silhouette! They fly fast and in formation, very different from the gulls and without all the flapping of the ducks. I can sometimes pick them out from a great distance.
This is the view I always want to capture - those spectacular wings!
It amazes me every time that they can fly so close together and never run into each other.
This shot is 1/10th of a second after the shot above - I love the motion of their wings.
They can almost disappear when coming straight at you - very stealth!
The wingspan, the long curved bill, and those perfectly extended blue legs!
Landing gear was down - they thought about landing…
…and they did land…
…for about two seconds. I don’t know what was bothering them, but they never decided to stay on the shore.
Black and white, almost like a piano.
Zooming right in front of the old water tower.
They landed again, this time I got one shot before they took off.
When they come right by me I can hear their high-pitched voices. It’s a cross between a squeak and a chime.
Those wings against fall foliage!
Goodbye for now friends. Please come back or tell your friends to stop by!
The post doesn’t do justice to the thrill of seeing them. Also, another flock of the same size did return early this week - maybe the same ones, no way to tell. Which is to say, there will be more pictures of avocets!
May your week be full of beautiful surprises.
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What a fantastic cavalcade of shots! When they are flying with their legs tightly together they remind me of high divers going into a pool, cutting the water like a knife. SO beautiful! Thank you for sharing every movement and moment.
Thanks Karen for introducing me to a new bird , a true heart-stopper.
What a fantastic cavalcade of shots! When they are flying with their legs tightly together they remind me of high divers going into a pool, cutting the water like a knife. SO beautiful! Thank you for sharing every movement and moment.