Wading birds

A company of wading birds on a remote shoreline is always a pleasant experience.

On a beach near Gedser, Southern Denmark, I found hundreds of dunlins (almindelig ryle) and knots (islandsk ryle). I was on a birding trip at the most southern tip of Denmark.

The bigger bird in the front is the knot, and the smaller one behind is the dunlin.

These small waders have been breeding in the remote and arctic areas across the nothern polar circle whitout any predators to threaten them.

That means the waders are not alarmed by the presence of humans. You can watch them come pretty close to you, while they're rapidly digging with their long beaks like sowing machines in the humid sand looking for sandworms.

Small wading birds often have long migration routes. They will only stay for a short time on the coasts of Denmark to reload their energy, before they'll go all the way to the great coastal mudbanks of Westafrica for the winter.

Knot in the first year plumage.

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