Sandpipers on the Rocks

On Monday I was at the Avalon jetty during heavy fog. The fog was so thick, in fact, that the regularly-scheduled seawatch had been called off for the morning. It would not have done any good to have the counter there since it was barely possible to see birds near the jetty, much less birds migrating past the jetty. It was much easier to see the shorebirds running on the jetty itself. Most of them were Purple Sandpipers, such as the one above.

The Purple Sandpipers were feeding in some of the pools that formed after a wave hit the jetty. I am not sure exactly what they were finding to eat there, or if they were finding anything in the pools. Perhaps the waves carried some small animals onto the rocks.

Others were working the edges of the jetty, but they had to run for cover whenever one of the larger waves crashed.

The were also Ruddy Turnstones, like the one above. These moved  faster than the Purple Sandpipers, so they were harder to photograph, even though sometimes they ran right past my feet.

Most of the Sanderling were on the beach, but one ran up on the jetty.