birds with places to be

#critters
#birds
#beach

weather: warm and salty
mood: patient, for once
terrain: wet sand
soundtrack: waves

spent the whole evening lying on my stomach on wet sand at the tide line, watching birds be busy.

Two ruddy turnstones, rust-and-black shorebirds with orange legs, walking in step along the sand as a wave breaks white behind them. — speed-walking away from a wave. i've never related to anything more.

these two are ruddy turnstones. they're called that because they flip over stones to see what's underneath. i also do that. we have a lot in common.

a wave came in right behind them and they didn't even look. just kept going, completely in step, like they'd rehearsed it.

A black-bellied plover with speckled black-and-white feathers and a black face standing at the water's edge on a sandy beach. — dressed for a wedding. it was a wednesday.

this one's a black-bellied plover, dressed for something much fancier than a beach. it stood very still and looked out at the sea for a long time. eventually, so did i.

my front was sandy for two days. worth it.