Birding #2: Crescent Beach State Park

While not necessarily a popular spot for birding, Crescent beach is a calm, quiet spot in the off-season that my wife and I like to frequent. The beach is even more unusual in the winter with half-plowed roads, a handful of parked cars, and a coating of snow that gives the appearance of white sand.

There is some brush and tall grass leading up to the sand, and as we passed by I got the feeling that I would not be seeing many birds here; cold, bare bushes would not make for a good home.

Fortunately, a variety of waterfowl enjoy the ocean water, though still not so much on this chilly winter day. We saw this guy along the main beach:

The south end of the beach turns to rocky ledges and a couple of off-shore trails. Off of one ledge were some common eiders and mallards:

The trail continues to a smaller, rocky (not sandy) beach that was iced over. No birds or waterfowl present. Hands getting cold.

Returning to the ledge, my wife's eye was caught by a particular rock not far out in the water; the peak of a ledge that was otherwise submerged by the high tide. With our eyes it looked like some small, round rocks were resting on the rock's tip. Could it be birds?

I crawled down from our lookout and walked to the tip of the nearest ledge for a closer look. My 300mm lens provides quite the zoom-in, but the old Nikon D70 can only capture so much detail. This little trek down to the water's end did give a better view:

These sandpipers will probably be happier once the tide goes back down. I wonder what draws them to nap on this small patch of rock? Do they know if the tide will crawl any higher?

Returning to our vantage point, I made one final observation: far out in the water, where a rocky shelf is typically visible at low tide, was not looking so much like rocks either. These dark spots were rising and falling along with the waves. I took a picture, but had to wait until home to view it on a larger screen.

Whatever these birds are, there are probably a hundred of them out there in that group. I would have loved to get a closer view. Perhaps it's time to invest in some binoculars...