No Stone Left Unturned:

That was the determined thought I embraced when I set off for this southern shore.
I would find the similar bird species that summer at Fishers Island, create close-up and candid opportunities here (and now) that will help to better identify these same bird types later back home.

So it was really no surprise that my first subject I would follow down this sandy stretch was the Ruddy Turnstone-a chunky Sandpiper (once classified with family “Plover”) named for flipping stones and pebbles while foraging.

Here, in winter their probing beaks search for bits of mollusk, snails, and crustaceans.

I observe Turnstones occasionally on South Beach’s tidal flats and up at the Big Club Beach during the warmer months. Typically routing through seaweed, pecking aggressively sometimes for sand flies.

  I note that different shore birds in this populated beach environment are more tolerant and habituated to human activity, allowing me a glimpse into the social behavior of these particular birds of Ruddy feather, so I join the flock for a minute or two.