06/07/2026
Purple Sandpiper(s) Surprise!!!!!!!!!!
OK, so these two birds were photographed at 5:36am on May 30th, and now just getting around to processing the images. They were photographed very briefly, maybe for a minute or two, as a Merlin then showed up and flushed them away - they did not return. I had to remove the teleconverter as they were too close and I could not back up unless going into three feet of cold water that was right at my heels. Anyhow, at the time I thought they were Pectoral Sandpipers - Purple Sandpiper never came to thought, especially with two of them together (they are quite rare here, especially during the spring migration, and usually only seen as single individuals). I just looked at the orangish base to the bills and the non-black legs. So I put the images on the backburner for a bit thinking "Pectoral" but now looking at the pictures today I said "Whoa....hold on a minute here, these are NOT Pectoral Sandpipers...they are actually Purple Sandpipers!!". First time I see one...and there were two! In hindsight I did think they were rather plump, and long-billed but I suppose it was too early in the morning to think straight haha! Now I wish that Merlin would not have showed up, but I still got a few images that I like :-)
Canon R6 + 500mm f/4, manual exposure, 1/1600s., f/4, ISO 3200.
