Life On The Edge - Purple Sandpipers !

Saturday morning me and brad made our way out to butterpot park to do an early check of our boxes. We were there before the sun was up so we would have some time for photography later in the day. Although there was no sign of owls in our boxes that doesn't mean we wont get any. After all it is still pretty early in the year. Next weekend me and my dad are heading to Terra Nova National Park to set up some boxes for owls an common goldeneye with the help of some park rangers and a federal permit we are on our way !

After we checked our boxes we decided to head to cape spear to have one more secession with the purple sandpipers that call the rocks around cape spear home for a few cold months each year. We knew that the birds would soon be migrating north and we wouldn't see another one until next winter so we were really hoping to be able to see them one more time.

 

And see them we did ! There had been 40-50 reported to be left at the point but from my photos i took of the group in flight we had somewhere around 70-80 birds which was defiantly a plus !
Purple sandpipers are medium sized shore birds that live on sheer rock faces literally feet from the raging north Atlantic. They breed in the high Arctic during the short summer season up there and then make there way to the cliffs around cape spear to feed and spend the winter
Photo from here: https://www.google.ca/search?q=purple+sandpiper+migration+map&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=1MBFUauJC6mU2QXro4G4DQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=783#imgrc=vuYmUd3rdQIxXM%3A%3BA_sc-phqS2LNCM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fsdakotabirds.com%252Fspecies%252Fmaps%252Fpurple_sandpiper_map_small.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fsdakotabirds.com%252Fspecies%252Fpurple_sandpiper_info.htm%3B421%3B300

Purple sandpipers are easy birds to photograph but they are always in difficult places to get to and often very dangerous. But like any birder or bird photographer the excitement of seeing purple sandpipers is defiantly worth it.

Below are some of mine and Brads Favourite shots of the day !