adult, breeding plumage, Solitary Sandpiper

Getting close to waders to take photographs is always a problem and although the improved magnification that digiscoping offers makes life easier, some species are just a little too wary. Solitary sandpipers are a classic example. As the name suggests, this species spends much of its time alone or in small groups of 2-3 birds. With excellent eyesight they are extremely wary, always on the look out for predators.

It has been a good year with around 7 birds found at Montlake Fill so far this Spring - 2-4 birds is more usual in recent years. I had tried to photograph one a couple of days ago with no success so I decided to make myself a bag hide, from a roll of burlap (sack-cloth for those of you outside the USA). I cut a roll in two and taped the two pieces together with duct tape to form a square about 2m x 2m. Total cost about $6.

I headed down to one of the ponds where one of the two birds present was feeding. As expected I was spotted immediately and the bird flew off to another pond close by. Rather than follow it I set up the scope covered it with the hide and crawled underneath and made myself as comfortable as possible. An hour later the bird returned. It was a little nervous at first but soon settled down.

I could not believe how successful the hide was. It was if I was completely invisible. The bird starting feeding back and forth in the shallow water. At times it was so close that I could not adjust the scope to keep the bird in focus. It even stopped to preen right in front of me, less than 6m away. An hour later I had taken nearly 300 photos (safety in numbers) and even managed to change the flash card and unhook the camera from my adaptor to change the battery without disturbing the bird. Occasionally it would stop feeding and look in my direction but then would decide that the brown coloured thing was harmless and it would resume feeding.

Wow !