A photogenic wintering flock of Dunlin on Duxbury Beach were perfectly camouflauged. This gives a look at its very cool 3-5 minute aerial show after which they settled on the stones that in this season make up the south end of Duxbury Beach. They blend in so well that if you hadn't seen them land you could easily miss them. They stayed still enough and let me get close enough to make pretty reliable counts; my three counts/estimates averaged 1,360 birds.

The effort to check nearly every bird provided a surprise reward - 2 Sanderlings - unusual here in the winter. I'd last seen them in November but not since then, and I'd assumed they had moved on or not survived. Interestingly the two birds seemed unaware of each other as they were different areas of the flock. More pix in a dedicated gallery under "Umbrella gallery".

The birds were found at midday about 2 hours after high tide on the ocean side of Duxbury Beach about 1/2 way between the third crossover and the beginning of Plum Hills.