Dabbling in Twitching

Miserable weather yesterday evening and our intended walk got cancelled due to lack of locomotion.

Plenty to see from the house with binoculars, though. A pair of Shelducks were making slow but steady progress up from the water line, rooting for small crabs and other tasty morsels as they went. Their pure white plumage with black and brown markings is so distinct, even at a distance, that it looks like the contrast has been turned up to eleven.

At the other end of the contrast scale were a pair of Sandpipers. I must have been staring right at them for fully five minutes before I actually picked them out from the sand and seaweed backdrop. They are slight and delicate looking, with spindly legs and a needle-like bill.

I've never been much of a twitcher. At least not in the birdwatching sense. But I have to admit that watching seabirds is quite interesting; maybe because I get to wonder about what they are eating and what it tastes like.