Fuerteventura - Spoonbill

One evening when I was photographing a Whimbrel - one that allowed me to get particularly close - I caught a glimpse of a white bird flying overhead. My initial reaction was to ignore it as it was likely to be another Little Egret, but it caught just enough of my attention to wonder if it was something different. Surely I wouldn't be lucky enough to see Spoonbill? In any case, the bird was flying high in the sky and could have been off to anywhere in the island. I thought nothing more of it at the time.

On the morning of our final full day Rachel let me go out and take a few photos before breakfast. So I walked down to Correlajo seafront to see what I could find. As I rounded a bend I noticed two white birds standing on some low rocks, some way out into the bay - there were Spoonbill!!

The tricky thing in the morning, was that the sun rose pretty much over the sea and so the birds were against the light. However, I judged the shallow tide to be going out and thought I would see how far round the birds I could get so that the sun was behind me. I ended up knee deep in water in places - which was not what I had intended, but this did make the birds seem reasonably comfortable with my approach. 

At first, the two birds stood motionless. They were actually each a different distance from me, so whilst they appeared to be next to one another, the depth of field needed was really quite large.   

SpoonbillsCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

But eventually one bird started moving around, meaning that I could isolated individual birds in the frame. There was a lovely quality to the early morning light.

One bird stayed standing at the water's edge.

Spoonbill restingCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

Whilst the other stood preening on the top of the rocks before going for a walk around.

Spoonbill preeningCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands Spoonbill preeningCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

Spoonbill preeningCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

Spoonbill preeningCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

SpoonbillCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

Both birds produced a number of different poses, some showing the bird in profile, others showing the huge bill, from which the bird gets its name.

Spoonbill preeningCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

Spoonbill preeningCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

SpoonbillCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

SpoonbillCorrelajo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

I also photographed Turnstone and Whimbrel in the same morning light, but these birds topped them all, and were a great way to end this great family holiday!!

For more images of these magnificent birds, please go to the Spoonbill gallery here