The Long-billed Dowitchers (Limnodromus scolopaceus) that I wrote about in late September last year are back at the Airpark Lagoon in Courtenay, BC. For the last week or so there’s been a nice flock of dowitchers working the mud flats in a location that allows for a close approach. I got a few photographs today but again the dull weather and fast feeding birds didn’t cooperate to produce anything that was super crisp. A fair amount of Photoshop sharpening was required to get the images somewhat usable for the web. Lots of grain because of the high ISO needed to produce a workable shutter speed.

Also in the Airpark Lagoon was a small flock of about a half-dozen Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) that were feeding on the exposed mud. I was fortunate that one approached close enough that I was able to get a few photographs of it as well. Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs can also be challenging to separate visually but I was lucky that these were calling as they flew from one part of the lagoon to the other. The Greater’s call is described as a three note “deew, deew, deew” while the Lesser is a short two note “too, too.” Again, a certain amount of work in Photoshop was needed to sharpen up the images so that they were usable.

It was great to watch these birds and I’m hoping for a day with better lighting and a chance to get out and photograph them again!