Thursday, December 1st:  After searching the marshes at Fort Pulaski, for Sharptails with very minimal success (was fun playing in the mud), Chris and I, decided to check the north beach area of Tybee Island for rarities.  Walking along the beach we were greeted to Sanderlings and Willets along the shore, Royal Terns and Laughing Gulls flying by.  In the distance we could sometimes see the odd Gannet.   At one point we even saw a porpoise feeding off the end of a jetty.

Rounding the point we saw a large group of birds on the beach. Made up mainly of Black skimmers and Laughing Gulls.  As we got closer we noticed a few more things,  Dunlins, a lone Purple Sandpiper, Least Sandpipers, a 3rd Year Black Backed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull and later on a lone Oystercatcher.

I slowly got closer to the mass of birds..if you move slowly, one step and stop, then wait a few minutes before moving again, they let you get very close.  I had always wanted to get an image of a skimmer skimming …. and today they were really putting on a show.  These images were taken from about 55 feet away, I probably took hundreds of images to get one good one, as they were flying by.

What a beauty..the photo I’ve always wanted. and below a new image for my book.

The Lesser black-backed Gull showing it’s non-breeding winter plumage…

The 3rd Year Black-backed Gull….

Later as the tide began to recede we spent some time looking for Purple Sandpipers on the rocks and were lucky to find this individual….

I probably have 200 images of Willets but to date this is the best and closest flight image I’ve ever gotten..

Thanks Chris, for showing me this lovely spot….Ciao for now