By Sally Siko
A couple of days ago I made a quick trip to Ft.Fisher in search of Purple Sandpipers.
Unfortunately my search for those birds came up empty but I did manage to grab a few shots of a Ruddy Turnstone and a Willet hunting for a meal on the jetty.
While I was disappointed that I was unable to find the sandpipers, it was still pretty cool to watch these two beauties pecking at the mollusks clinging to the rocks.
It’s a good time to mention that just getting to this spot was quite an experience.
The only way to access the area where these two birds were hunting is during low tide. That being said, the surface of the seaweed laden rocks are extremely slippery so each step must be taken with extreme care.
Trying to hold my camera while carefully balancing on the wet stones, each time I put my boot down, thoughts of broken ankle, cracked skull and busted equipment were racing through my mind.
Also admittedly worth the risk if I could only see those birds heh heh 😉
After a few hundred yards of walking and scoping out the jetty, I determined that the sandpipers were not in the area, so I turned around and headed back across the rocks.
It was on the return trip that I spied this beautiful, Ruddy Turnstone dipping in and out of the waves crashing on the jetty stone.
After a few minutes, a curios Willet flew in and tried to chase away the Turnstone.
Lol, the Turnstone gave zero F’s about the larger bird and continued to make his way up the shoreline.
Ruddy Turnstones and Willets are year round residents of coastal North Carolina however these species are more often seen as the weather cools and their numbers increase during the winter months.
They are both best spotted in tidal basin areas in habitats exactly like the rock jetty here at Ft.Fisher.
Dining on crustaceans including barnacles, crabs, amphipods, mollusks, worms, sea urchins, and small fish, Ruddy Turnstones and Willets are relatively easy to find while searching for a sea-side snack.
Aren’t they beautiful?
Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my mighty 50MP monster, the @canonusa #5Ds