Bonus Broughton

After all the driving on the coast the day before, I opted to stay close to home the following day. I got up early to check out Broughton Beach and found an intensely red sunrise.

One plus to all the wildfires.

There was another birder on the scene who nicely pointed out the Sanderling running along the shore.

I always think of them as small shorebirds, and they are, except when running alongside smaller Western Sandpipers.

Another small peep that showed up was a Semipalmated Plover.

Make that three of them!

A Caspian Tern made a fly-by appearance.

But the star of the morning turned out to be one that had been a lifer just the day before.

Thin bill, dark eye-stripe, stripey back, a Red-necked Phalarope! Within 5 miles of my house. This beauty paid us no mind because it was focused on the insects just above the water.

File these under blurry but I don’t care. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.

It’s not a flycatcher, but it flipped out of the water like one catching insects. There must have been a hatch event of something tasty this day. We watched in amazement and then the phalarope did something else it doesn’t do.

It walked right out of the water onto the shore just long enough for our jaws to drop in amazement before it headed back in the water to catch more insects. What a sight!

They’re smaller than they look. Here it is in relation to a gull.

Just when I thought shorebirds couldn’t be more fun.

My thoughts are with my friends and family in Florida today! Hope you’re all holding through okay. My dad recently sent me this amazing photo of a family of Limpkins he saw on his morning walk.

Incredible. I hope they’re all okay too.

Love and hugs,

Audrey