Shorebirds at Great Bend, Kansas

American Avocet #34 - American Avocets have a typical feeding behavior of swinging their curved bills back and forth as they walk through the water...but...
American Avocet #35 - ...this one seemed to be stalking something...
American Avocet #36 - ...which it caught with a sudden plunge into the water
American Golden-Plover #11 - in Texas during Spring migration American Golden-Plovers are always still in Winter plumage. It was a treat to see this bird partly molted into breeding plumage
American Golden-Plover #14 - there was a Peregrine Falcon in the area, so a close eye was kept on the sky above
American Golden-Plover #13 - this is the presumed mate of the previous bird
Snowy Plover #34 - a steely stare
Snowy Plover #36 - who's the fairest of them all?
Snowy Plover #37 - and a profile shot
White-rumped Sandpiper #44 - there were lots of White-rumped Sandpipers
Black-necked Stilt #53 - a breeding bird at Quivira NWR
Least Tern #33 - another breeding bird at Quivira NWR
Pied-billed Grebe #33 - practicing its "submarine" mode of being partially submerged. The weeds on its back provide extra camouflage
Pied-billed Grebe #34 - a "head-on" view
Red-eared Slider #16 - turtles sun themselves to remove parasites...note the splayed rear toes so the webs between them get sun too
Diamondback Water Snake #4 - there were quite a few snakes in the water...even here they use their tongues to sense smells
Red Saddlebags? #1 - didn't bring my Odes books on the trip...comments on the ID are welcome
Bear Grass? #1 - comments on the ID are welcome
Showy Milkweed #1 - one of the many different Milkweeds
Yarrow #1 - a widespread plant