Before you all hit the button to show something else, thinking this is just another Post about Tuamotu Sandpipers, there are some great videos attached as well. All designed to help convince you as to why this is such a great species. It didn't take long watching them before I ended putting them into my Top Ten Birds that I have seen. Not an easy decision when I've got over 6200 species as potential candidates. So they join species such as Banded Pitta (jointly held by Malaysian Banded Pitta & Bornean Banded Pitta now Banded Pitta has been split into 3 species, but not Javan Banded Pitta as I've not seen that), Sunbittern, Quail-plover & the only European species, Long-tailed Tit, in the Top Ten. Maybe I will comeback to the other species in a future Post.
Tuamotu Sandpiper: I like Waders, but get frustrated with scope views of distant species, so it is great when they walk up right to you
With another morning on Tenararo, I couldn't help spend some time trying to get some more photos of this great species. They were as obliging as on the first day, coming into to check me out, walking around close to me & calling regularly.
Tuamotu Sandpiper: It wasn't long before it was off pacing up & down again
Tuamotu Sandpiper: Also, it is time to start calling again
Tuamotu Sandpiper: Uncropped SX60 photo (except to put it to my default 6x5 format)
Tuamotu Sandpiper: A final uncropped SX60 photo
If you are still undecided if Waders can be really cute, then have a look at this video. Note, you will probably need a laptop, as Blogger uses Flash & that doesn't seem to be allowed to run on Apple products.
Tuamotu Sandpiper: Can you only watch it once? Watch out for it finding a small flower & grabs some nectar towards the end of the video. The original video is longer & it revisits the same flower as it walks past again. I'm going to have to learn more about editing the videos as Blogger has changed the settings on the video, so what started as a good quality video has been uploaded as a very grainy video. I will upload a better quality video once I can figure out how to do that
I decided to leave the island about an hour earlier than the last departure point. Some of the group had decided to opt out of the island landing completely & go snorkelling. I had seen several of the crew also take advantage of the snorkelling & decided to give it a go. As a result, I jumped on one of the earlier jet boat runs. It didn't take long to change & get back onto a jet boat to be dropped off for a quick snorkel. More of that in the next Post.
Matt & Elliot coming in to pick us up: Getting onto the jet boat involved a wade out & usually a wetting up to the waist. Fortunately, all the camera gear was safely stored in dry bags