The day after the Orchard Orioles, I was thrilled to find a couple of groups of Willets - eight at Times Beach with Shelley while she and I ran into each other and were paused to chat at the center marsh - and then another group of three at Woodlawn Beach. Since the first group only gave Shelley and I a quick view, I parted company with her and headed out on my own to re-find them. Eventually, I stopped at Woodlawn.
When I began my search at the beach, I started waaaaaaay down at the north end and, after a good amount of searching, I came up empty. I made my way over to the creek area where I was able to scan some of the beach towards the south. Using my bins, I saw some shapes that weren't gulls and looked a lot like taller shorebirds. I took some more distant photos and sure enough, enlarging them in the viewfinder of my camera, I could see they were definitely Willets - yay! Since I had missed getting any photos of the Times Beach birds, I dragged myself way over to that end (easily a 20 minute endeavor) hoping all the way that they were still there.
As I got close enough to make out the birds - although still distant - an ATV driven by park personnel came zooming along the beach! I was sure they'd flush the Willets so I quickly grabbed some more long distance photos of them just to ensure I had this great sighting documented. Oddly, the ATV pulled up very close to them and I could see the men were puzzled by the birds - but the birds didn't flush! Eventually, the driver drove back up the beach towards me where I got the chance to explain what a neat and rare sighting this was. I'm not sure they really appreciated the birds as much as I did but at least the Willet remained and all was good.
At that point, I wearily sat down on a log and waited as the trio slowly started coming towards me, picking at possible food items here and there along the water's edge. Here are a few photos of those fantastic birds...