Sanderlings Fighting over Food

Sanderling

Thanksgiving morning, my son and I went out photographing and left the other kids at home preparing Thanksgiving dinner.  We left the house, the temperature was in the 30s and in the time it took us to reach Sachuest National Wildlife Refuge, the temperature was into the 50s.  Even with the wind blowing.  It was still comfortable.  The high tide was just receding and the waves were still crashing on the rocks along the Ocean Loop.  We did not see any deer and overhead, loons and gulls flew by.  I only saw one passerine.  However, there were some interesting photos.

We met a couple of birders at Sachuest and they told us there was a pair of horned grebes down at third beach.  We traveled down to third beach, no grebes, large amount of a variety of gulls and probably 100 sanderlings running up and down the shore.

Sanderling

I had laid down on the on the sand and was crawling closer to the berm so I could get a better picture of the standings.  I had not reached the berm when I was able to obtain some pictures of a pair of sanderlings fighting over a slipper shell crustacean.  Finally, one of the sanderlings won out.

Sanderlings Fighting over Food

Sanderlings Fighting over Food

One Sanderling winning the Food

As I keep saying be prepared.  You never know what you will see you find.  Understand the history of what you are photographing.  Especially for shorebirds get down to their level.

Finally, a Day Birding

Sun Dog Present at Sunrise

Finally, after a number of postponements due either to the weather or illness, my friend Doug and I went out birding yesterday.  I picked them up before sunrise and in the eastern sky we could see Venus, Jupiter and Mars.  Since reports have been showing a number of sea ducks around the area.  We decided to go down to Sachuest to see what we could find.  I have to say it was a great day birding, there was a large number of different passerines around.  Most of them were very skittish, but we were able to get enough of binocular views to ID them.  Some of the birds we saw were the usual song sparrows, yellow-rumped warblers along with a palm warbler, Eastern towhee white-throated sparrow and dark-eyed junco.

Dark-eyed Junco

 The only sea ducks that we saw were some eiders.  There was a Peregrine falcon in northern harrier sweeping the fields.  White-tailed deer wise, scattered all through the fields a large number of does and yearlings.

White-tailed Deer

White-tailed Deer

As we were returning toward the visitor center, in the distance, on the other side of the parking lot.  A nice buck white-tailed deer ran quickly through the field jump the fences and disappeared behind the visitor center.  If I was near the car on the visitor center.  I would have been able to get a picture, but I was too far away to even try. However, it was finally nice to see a good looking buck.

Interesting Rock Formation Lit up by the Morning Sun

Ash Berries

Ring-billed Gulls and Sanderlings, Feeding in the Wrack

American Black Ducks in Flight

While we were driving pass Norman Bird Sanctuary, there was a Peregrine falcon sitting on the wires.  I slow down stopped and slowly backed up, hoping to get a photograph up close of this Peregrine.  No lock it decided to fly away and disappear into the tree line

Great White Shark Found at Horseneck :)

Ha!  H! A Great White Shark

Yes, a smile for the great white shark that I found at Horseneck.  Walking along, I thought I saw a fish in the wrack.  Also, a ring-billed gull also saw it and started walking toward it.  On closer inspection it was a great white shark toy that some child lost.  The gull looked at it with disgust  and walked away.

We visited Horseneck, hopefully, to count shorebirds for World Shorebird Day and all we saw was probably 15 sandelings.  We spent most of the time at Horseneck photographing gulls in various stages of plumage and action.  A great black-backed gull caught a crab and was chased by another gull wanting to steal it but the great black-backed gull was smart.  It flew away.  Landed and ran as fast as it could to get away from the other gulls.  Seeing this happen a pair of Herring gulls screamed at the great black-backed gull.

Great Black-Back Gull with the Crab Being Chased

Great Black-Back Gull with Lady Crab

Vocalizing

As the sanderlings were running around feeding, ring-billed gulls stayed close to them, hoping to steal a mole crab. However, the sanderling that caught a mole crab flew away faster than the gull.

Sanderling

Ring-Billed Gull among Sanderlings Feeding

We were lucky in that an Osprey was searching for fish near the shore hovered then dove, and we were able to catch it coming up with a large fish.  We have photographed Osprey in the past, diving, but never catching them right after they caught a fish.  First coming out of the water, the Osprey had one claw in the fish and then as it was starting to fly off, it grabbed a the fish with the second claw, and off it flew.

Osprey Catching a Fish

Osprey Catching a Fish

Walking back to the car, we found morning around in the sand juvenile ghost crabs.  They are very fast-moving but one stayed still long enough for us to be able to take pictures, looking at its front and also looking at its back.

Ghost Crab

Ghost Crab

Still hoping to find more shorebirds, we traveled to Gooseberry where all we found was three semipalmated plovers and one spotted sandpiper.

Semipalmated Plover

Although, we did not find many different species of shorebirds.  It still was a great day being out photographing.

Feeding Frenzy

Add caption

During my visit to Gooseberry the other day, I spent time watching it photographing the groups of Gulls and Peeps feeding in the water and on the wrack line. The gulls were catching slipper shells from the water, bring them in on land and trying to eat the gastropod that is inside the shell. The peeps, mainly Dunlins would check out the slipper shells and eat what was left inside. I do believe the recent storm had turned up the bottom and brought the slipper shells close to shore.

Dunlin carrying a slipper shell

Herring gull with slipper shell

Dunlin feeding on slipper shell

Dunlin feeding on slipper shell

Dunlin feeding on slipper shell

Dunlin feeding on slipper shell with a ring-billed gull in the background

Dunlin feeding

Herring gull feeding on slipper shell

Herring gull dropping a slipper shell

The common slipper shell, Crepidula fornicata, is a species of medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Calyptraeidae, the slipper snails and cup and saucer snails. They are often found, sometimes living stacked on top of one another, rocks, on horseshoe crabs, shells and on dock pilings. What is interesting about the slipper shells especially the stacked ones is that the largest and oldest animal at the base of the pile is a female and the younger and smaller animals are the males. If the female for some reason dies, the largest male becomes the female. For this reason that is why they are known as a sequential hermaphrodite.

Slipper shell looking underneath showing the shelf that gave this shell its name

Top view of slipper shell

Pair of slipper shells