A Close Look at Purple Sandpiper

During my recent holiday, I was lucky enough to spend time photographing a small flock of Purple Sandpipers. The light was fantastic, but at times a bit too bright (never happy). Anyway reviewing the images later on I noticed that many of the feathers have a purple sheen to them. This is rarely seen apparently and it is this purple sheen that gives the species its name.

If this is true that it is rarely seen then whoever named it had really good eyes or perhaps they shot one and looked at it in bright sunlight?

Photographs often reveal things that are not obvious when watching a fast moving bird.

Purple Sandpiper, Nairn

For whatever reason Purple Sands are no longer common in this area. Whether global warming has anything to do with I'm not sure, but I also noticed that the number of sea-duck feeding offshore has fallen dramatically. I remember a trip to the nearby Findhorn Bay in the 1990's when there were thousands of scoters close to shore. However, during recent trips I saw less than 50 Common Scoters and only a very few Velvet Scoters. Hopefully the Purple Sands are just wintering further north and that the sea-duck have found new feeding areas.

Purple Sandpiper