Spectacle

One of the field trips during Godwit Days was billed as "Shorebird Spectacle at the Marsh." Lately I've been walking around Arcata Marsh at high tide, when the shorebirds gather on the lake islands to wait out the submersion of the mudflats, and I can see why they called it that. It's like nothing else in nature to see thousands and thousands of birds flocking together like this.

The ones with black bellies are Black-Bellied Plovers, the rufous ones are Dowitchers and Marbled Godwits, and the ones swirling in the air above them are mostly Least Sandpipers and Dunlin.

It was a very productive day bird-wise. Some other treats:
Least Sandpipers - Surfbird - Black Turnstone - Red-Necked Phalarope