Rock Sandpiper (winter plumage)

Residing mostly in Alaska, Rock Sandpipers disperse south along the Pacific Coast each winter. A few reach Northern California, this individual appearing at Heron's Head Park in San Francisco in November of 2019. As the name suggests, the birds inhabit rocky shorelines, and I was happy to capture this example in a representative setting. This was only the second time I'd observed this species in 30 years of birding, so I was really stoked with this close encounter. He was so approachable that I had to swap-out my 600mm in favor of my shorter zoom!

San Francisco, California, 11/23/19
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS II on EOS 5D Mark IV
1/1000 at f/7.1, ISO 1000