Moments From Nature's Secrets

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Mikepércs: Moorhens

I was expecting the rail family again today. I haven't got a decent photo of the moorhens, which I came for to this place, because they haven't got close enough so far. But they did today!

The most early birds were the wagtails again and this little ringed plover:

Young Little Ringed Plover

Yellow Wagtail (female)

Young White Wagtail

Young White Wagtail

The little ringed plover was walking to and fro around my hide, so I was able to make a lot of photos of it, but they are very similar. These birds hunt in a special manner: unlike the sandpipers, which probe the soil or the shallow water while walking continously, these birds make a few steps, pick something, then stand there unmoving for many seconds, if they would think where to make the next probe into the mud.

Young Little Ringed Plover

Young Little Ringed Plover

Then a snipe appeared as well looking for some food in the hole I made nearby which still contained some water. Then it preened itself a bit:

Common Snipe

Common Snipe

The little ringed plover reappeared:

Young Little Ringed Plover

Young Little Ringed Plover

Then the snipe thought it was time for having a rest, so it decided to settle in a hole near my hide, dig it's long beak under the wings and took a good nap. In it's camouflaged plumage it was nearly unnoticable:

Common Snipe

As the Sun got higher and higher the moorhens began to come forward. First the youngs ...:

Young Moorhen

... then an adult one too:

Moorhen

Moorhen

Sometimes they must have seen something suspicious as at such occasions they ran into the shore vegetation quickly but they soon reappeared on the "tangle pasture":

Young Moorhen

Young Moorhen

Young Moorhen

Young Moorhen

Young Moorhen

Young Moorhen

And finally another picture of the little ringed plover:

Young Little Ringed Plover

No comments:

Post a Comment