Western Sandpiper
I was at the Copper River Shorebird Festival and had been out to Hartney Bay, but there the birds stayed far far away, which I believe was in part because young children were allowed to run around on the mud flats to play and because everybody else walked out there as well. Of course the birds were going to avoid the people there.
The next morning I walked down to the harbor and managed to climb down below the levy next to Odiak Slough and I was by myself. The tide was still out and I could see the large flocks of Western Sandpipers feeding further away from me, so I crouched down and stayed motionless to see what they would do. To my delight they started to swirl towards me and land and feed, each time getting closer and closer until I had birds less than twenty feet from me. I continued to shoot them as they came closer and started to focus on solitary birds in the flock as they looked for food. The birds continued to come ever closer and finally were running and flying past me to find food behind me. They flew so close I could swear they were brushing against my jacket.
And as they continued to move in mass past me I could smell them and they smelled like rotten fish - probably bad breath from eating all those small crustaceans! After they had completely passed I managed to stand but my legs were stiff from having crouched down all that while. But no one else had been there to scare the birds away! What an experience!
Taken 6 May 2018 near Odiak Slough, Cordova, Alaska.
Western Sandpiper
I was at the Copper River Shorebird Festival and had been out to Hartney Bay, but there the birds stayed far far away, which I believe was in part because young children were allowed to run around on the mud flats to play and because everybody else walked out there as well. Of course the birds were going to avoid the people there.
The next morning I walked down to the harbor and managed to climb down below the levy next to Odiak Slough and I was by myself. The tide was still out and I could see the large flocks of Western Sandpipers feeding further away from me, so I crouched down and stayed motionless to see what they would do. To my delight they started to swirl towards me and land and feed, each time getting closer and closer until I had birds less than twenty feet from me. I continued to shoot them as they came closer and started to focus on solitary birds in the flock as they looked for food. The birds continued to come ever closer and finally were running and flying past me to find food behind me. They flew so close I could swear they were brushing against my jacket.
And as they continued to move in mass past me I could smell them and they smelled like rotten fish - probably bad breath from eating all those small crustaceans! After they had completely passed I managed to stand but my legs were stiff from having crouched down all that while. But no one else had been there to scare the birds away! What an experience!
Taken 6 May 2018 near Odiak Slough, Cordova, Alaska.