Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok

On the morning of September 12 saw me checking my local patch at Cho Lae. I wanted to photograph the snipes which I've been seeing since September 2, but they proved to be much too difficult to photograph, so instead I turned my attention towards a flock of 9 Pacific Golden Plovers that were resting on the open field. I slowly crept from a distant towards the birds and when I approached approximately 20m from the closest bird, I lied down on the ground and slowly crawled with my elbows. In the end, I could get pretty close to them and I was pleased with the results.

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Still some black on the underparts

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Non-breeding bird

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

View of the flock

Most of them were still moulting from breeding to non-breeding plumage showing some black feathers on the underparts. One of the birds was especially whitish due to more breeding feathers on the body which haven't been moulted yet.  I spent some 10-15 minutes photographing them as they slept and preened under the warm morning light. Then they somehow decided to fly up and move to other area in the distance.

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Curious look

This individual was the most approachable one.

Yawning! Probably it's still too early.

Guess what the bird on the left was doing>

It was pooping!

Pacific Golden Plover moulting into non-breeding plumage

Had some fun taking photos of them while preening

The one in the middle was much whiter than others.

Resting despite my existence

Another tame individual

A preening shot to end this post