Seabirds and Waders

There's quite a lot to see in today's post with a variety of birds spotted on my walk along the beaches at Runswick Bay and Staithes.

The first shot is of a pair of loved up Fulmar. While I was watching them they engaged in a bit of courtship behaviour unfortunately the shots I got of that were not very clear, given the light and the distance and the fact that I was shooting against a dark background it was quite tricky getting a sharp image. These birds are not gulls but a species of Petrel and they have a distinctive channel on top of their beak. I tried to get some shots of them in flight and they are really skilled fliers, they move so fast so I didn't get the shots I had hoped. I was amazed how they could fly directly at the cliff face at speed and then at the very last moment brake and land safely on the smallest of ledges.

The next three pictures are of Oyster Catchers, three in flight and then others wading in the shallow pools and silt. These seem really gentle birds and they allowed me to get quite close.

The next picture is of a Herring Gull, I think these are quite beautiful birds although they have a bit of a reputation as thugs and thieves.  They're quite fearless around people and are known to steal food from peoples' hands.  This particular bird was patrolling the car park at Staithes looking for handouts, he didn't get anything from me.

The final pictures are my favourite from today, not necessarily because they are great photos but more because they are of a bird I had never seen before, a Turnstone.  These lovely little birds were scavenging among the debris along the shoreline in the harbour at Staithes.  They were quite gregarious and seemed quite at ease with my presence taking pictures. The first of these shots shows the bird living up to its' name.