Shore birds are fascinating. They come in many shapes and sizes and have distinctive ways of moving. There are different beaks, adapted to whatever they love to eat, and different feet. I love the elegance of egrets with their sleek curved necks and bright yellow feet. I’ve written about them and photographed them frequently, here are just a couple of the many posts. You can find them here and here. I love the power of ospreys who patiently watch the world from on high and then dive, picking up their prey (large-ish fish) in their sharp talons. You can find posts about them here and here.

Sandpipers, tiny and nimble, mostly move as a unit. They remind me of those cartoons of the roadrunner where their feet move so fast they almost look like wheels. Waves flow in and the birds move up the shoreline, the tide ebbs back and they rush down to find some tasty tidbits, somehow always staying just along the edges of the water. Their colors change as their direction changes, almost like a wave themselves.

If I move too close, they lift en masse, flying out over the sea, often settling back on the shore a few hundred feet away. I watch and snap photos endlessly, continually curious about these tiny little birds.

What piques your curiosity? What sends you out with your camera and a bottomless pit of questions?