Sandpipers, Plovers and Turnstones

Or let me lump them all together and call them shorebirds!  After a couple of hours on the beach I learned two things - they do not stand still, but they do come amazingly close if you just lay down in the sand and hold still.

The birds were in constant motion - hopping or running around, swirling the water, pecking at the shells - until they flew out to the rocks.  As soon as something moved, be it dog or photographer, they took off in a low flying cloud.  Twisting, banking and finally landing on the rocky jetty.  Wait a few minutes and the the cloud flew back.  They have to pick through all those shells before the tide comes back in!