CDS and another shooting day at Allen's Pond. While walking along the many piles of seaweed washed upon the shore we frightened some Least Sandpipers into flight. We stopped and began to look at the seaweed closely, and after quite some time we saw some movement. More Least Sandpipers.
Those little suckers hide well. We only saw them if they moved, and if we looked away for even a split second we lost them again - even though we were looking in the exact same spot. We generally had to wait until they moved some more.
Eventually we got tired of shooting into the sun and getting underexposed peeps with blown-out backgrounds. We circled around to the beach which put the sun to our back. Much better.
CDS ended up going right down the beach, and I went left. I found a little Least playing peekaboo with me in the piles of seaweed. She saw me many times but must have decided that I wasn't going to eat her, and she seemed to get used to me - though she still moved down the beach slowly.
Whenever she ducked behind the mound of seaweed I quickly moved left, set up, and waited for her to appear. I did this several times, and though she saw me every time she didn't seem to mind. I got braver, and moved a little closer whenever she ducked behind the mounds.
Eventually I was pretty darn close. This bird is probably 4 inches tall to the top of her head, and this is not cropped.
She ducked behind, and I moved closer, but she seemed to be getting skittish, so I eased up a bit. I might have been 7 feet from her at this point.
She walked away a little and gave me a nice pose...
I decided that I had had enough, rested on my monopod, and waited for CDS.
I had spent a little over 10 minutes with her, though it seemed like an hour. I got about 80 shots of her, all of them from within 9 or 10 feet.
Not a bad morning at all.
And I haven't even mentioned the sanderlings....
