Ma'agan Michael

Yesterday I spent the morning at Ma'agan Michael. I joined Itai, Ohad, Yosef and Francis to practice on a new net I am planning to use for gulls in Ashdod this winter. Setting the net was quite easy, and then we had the whole morning to sit around and wait for terns to land in our catching area; of course none did so. But in the meanwhile quite a few birds amused us on the beach.
This moulting adult Sanderling was almost pretty in the golden morning sun.

Sanderling

Among the several hundred terns there were 3 Gull-billed Terns. This juvenile was still being fed by a parent and was often begging.

Gull-billed Tern

While sitting around I wasted batteries and memory space on terns flying up and down the beach. 500 mm is really not the adequate lens for this type of photography.

Common Tern - juvenile

Common Tern - adult

This moulting adult Grey Plover was distant most of the morning but just before we left it got closer.

Grey Plover

I managed to read a few of Yosef's colour rings. First is IKP on a common, then PP on a little.