Broughton Beach

All the cool kids headed to Broughton Beach recently to check out Lapland Longspurs. The beach is a quick drive from my house, so I thought I’d try my luck too.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a Least Sandpiper.

A Great Blue Heron.

An American Pipit.

A Savannah Sparrow taking a mud bath.

A Savannah Sparrow hiding in a shrub.

A talkative gull (“Olympic Gull“?) protecting its catch.

And a Lapland Longspur!

This one camouflaged itself nicely among the flocks of Horned Larks and Savannah Sparrows. I only got a brief look at the longspur and I missed its infamous flight-song display.

I had the most fun on this trip watching a flock of Horned Larks.

I love the way they waddle along. Sibley calls it a “shuffling gait.”

Horned Larks are found in wide open areas with sparse vegetation and they breed in the high arctic tundra. Eremophila alpestris is Greek origin, eremos, a lonely place, and philia, meaning love. They are named for their “love of lonely places in the mountains.”   

Cool birds.

Horns and spurs!

Audrey