Nature Photography

Least Sandpiper…a fitting name for the smallest shorebird of them all. About the size of a songbird, these tiny little beauties are almost impossible to see. In the same area where I was photographing Willets and squabbling Avocets, I noticed a few mobile blobs of mud farther out along the shore. Eventually, those mobile blobs of mud got close enough for me to realize they were a pair of Semipalmated Plovers (very small birds in and of themselves), and something even smaller. After a few minutes of inching my way closer, this little guy popped out from behind a small piece of driftwood. I am not sure how many of these there are at Cherry Creek…they really do blend in well, even when they are moving. There could be dozens, there may just be this one. Either way, I was happy to see him, and add him to the growing list of shorebird species I’ve seen this year. Cute little bugger…hope to see him, and maybe some of his friends, again soon.