Green Sandpiper - Tringa Ochropus
The world is on the move again, mid March and the waders are flooding through Dubai on the way up to the Neartic to breed. I love Green Sandpipers - they are stunning. I slipped out for two hours this afternoon as in my dreams I knew the birds were coming. I actually dream birds which is pretty sad.
The first one of these I saw was at Chestnut RSPB , on a small pool in a copse. There is something crisp about these birds, the white and the dotted back. They are tiny - a sparrow came at sat next to one and it wasn't much smaller. I was up the Pivot fields which are being wrecked at the moment - they are teraing up the grass and buldozing whole reed birds that held large populations of breeding Clamorous Warblers each year. Anyway there was only small pool of standing water so I set the car as a hide with the sun in the right direction to get a catch in the eyes on any photos I took. Lazy car birding - it was 36 on the thermometer so I wasn't going to walk.
On the surface of the water you can see numbers of flies. Fuel for this migrating sandpiper. A sparrow flew in to drink next to the wader and it wasn't much smaller. They really are little pocket beauties. I love the beading on the back. These are a real "Birders Bird".
I set out with the intention of finding what was on the move - I was delighted with this little Spring migrant who will pop up next to a lake or river somewhere in the Taiga forests far far up North.
Green Sanpiper, Tringa Ochropus
Dubai, Pivot Fields
16 March 2013
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