In my last post I mentioned my goal to identify the various shorebirds I was able to photograph. This one was all alone, foraging the shallows along a fresh-water marsh at Long Beach, WA.

alert black eyes watch

solitary stilt walker

edges the shallows

salt and pepper plumes

observant eye on water

Greater Yellowleg

Sibley’s field guide shows me there are several Genus within the Sandpiper (Scolopacidae) family. The Greater Yellowleg is in the Genus Tringa, which has four species. Genus Calidris has fifteen species — all looking somewhat alike — though each with distinct characteristics.

white bellied loner

layered brown feathers atop

wonder who you are

preens with eye on me

unruffled by intrusion

returns to breakfast

I believe this is a Baird’s Sandpiper — “Uncommon on damp upper edges of mudflats and sometimes in short-grass fields.” Sibley