3rd October 2008: Tanjung Tokong

I managed to get a couple of hours at Tanjung Tokong today. The tide wasn't high enough to push the birds up onto the sandbar. I tried my wardrobe hide, but being so low to the sand in the midday heat, heat haze coming off the sand was a big problem.




While waiting for birds, I noticed this ghost crab doing some spring-cleaning.



There were a couple of possible Little Stints (such as the rear bird here) among the Red-necked, but they didn't come close enough to clinch identification for certain.



The birds I spent most time looking at were White-faced Plovers, which have increased from 1 to 6 since my last visit. Here's one behind a Kentish Plover, showing just how different they are.





I found it significant that the normally mild-mannered Greater Sand Plover wouldn't tolerate the intrusion of a White-faced Plover into its feeding territory - both are crab-hunters.







This male still had a lot of breeding plumage.






















Best of all today was this first winter. It had nice juvenile coverts, and the beginnings of a blackish frontal bar across the crown, which may indicate that it's a male.






















Trying to cough up a pellet. Waders, like raptors and owls, cough up pellets of the indigestible parts of their prey, such as the ground up shells of the crabs they catch.



An adult female White-faced on the tideline.







A few shots showing the distinctive wing and tail pattern of White-faced Plover.