Eye to eye with ruddy turnstones

During this very cold day with a stern wind, I went up the dike on the other side of the harbor 't Horntje called 'De Rede'. What I found was a small bay with mudflats and lots of wading birds, like redshanks, bar-tailed godwits, curlews, oystercatchers and hundreds of ducks, named wigeons. The weather conditions for good photography were very limited, but I did study the wading birds foraging on worms, shells and seaweed. Every bit of information about wading birds and sea birds will help me in the wading bird project at IMARES, specifically in behavioural attitudes on the mudflats to recognize birds much easier. I even saw a ruddy turnstone picking flesh from a dead herring gull. They are not picky and will eat everything they can find between seaweed, seashells and the mud - carrion and eggs of small colonial terns included. The best I could do, was closing in on the ruddy turnstones. They didn't seem to take notice of my presence.


A ruddy turnstone in winter plumage foraging in the snow



















The ruddy turnstone is a compact bird of rocky coastlines and mudflats during winter and migration periods. Their migration range goes from the Arctic to South America. The ruddy turnstone has very distinctive plumages, short orange legs and a wedge-shaped bill for foraging. With their bill they are able to open barnacles, dig holes, and flip aside stones, shells, and seaweed in pursuit of small invertebrates and insects.

Only a glance at me during active searching
between the shells

Ruddy turnstones are highly active sandpipers, which makes it more difficult to photograph them, especially in low-light situations like today. I couldn't get the time value on my camera high enough to freeze movements. Gladly, some of the photographs were a success, although I believe I can do better in positive light conditions... Well, it's a start for now! During my photography moments my hands started to freeze over, despite my warm fleece gloves, and I couldn't handle my camera anymore...

A short rest after foraging

Back to cracking seashells and flipping them over again

Note: in some of my photographs it seems like the ruddy turnstone only has one leg. They sometimes 'hop' on one leg to keep the other leg warm underneath their plumage! Very clever!