Friday, November 12, 2021

TURNSTONES IN WINTER

 




Okay, so it is not quite winter yet - at least not around here where we are having an Indian summer! These Turnstones were seen last year when we were staying down on the Eastern Shore and I have always enjoyed watching them. They are plump-looking birds with slightly small heads and stubby legs which allow them to easily turn over things such as stones (where they get their name), shells, seaweed etc looking for whatever they can find to eat underneath.





I also saw them in the Bahamas where I tempted them closer with crumbs of whole-wheat crackers sprinkled on rocks a few meters away from where we sat - then they were very tame but usually one can't get that close to them. I think I prefer them in their more subtle winter plumage as they have quite different markings in summer. Both these studies were done in my sketchbook, each sized around 6" x 9".

2 comments:

David M. Gascoigne, said...

They seem to be among the tamest of shorebirds. I have sat in a bar on Tobago and had them walk around my feet.

Jeremy Pearse said...

Wonderful. In the Bahamas, they were much the same. In fact they acted very much like the starlings I used to see on the beaches in the UK. Walking all around beach goers, picking up scraps and having the usual squabble, even walking right under deck chairs with people sat in them!