Whimbrel

The goal on this morning was to photograph migrating Whimbrels on Ocean Beach in San Francisco, and I'm not sure I could have been more successful. Several dozen birds proved cooperative once I started crawling around, and I took over a 1,000 pictures during my two hour session. Choosing the best frames took some time - they liked to be looking everywhere but at me - but I was happy to walk out with a variety of poses and behaviors. The beach was loaded with sand fleas, so I understand why these and other shorebirds use it as a stopover en route to their Arctic nesting grounds. I particularly like the dropping sand/mud in this frame.

Ocean Beach, San Francisco County, California, 4/16/21
Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1/4x III on EOS 1DX Mark II
1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 1250