Some more photos form my trip to Kefalonia now, with the black winged stilt I saw on Katelios beach. I wandered down the beach hoping for a glimpse of the animal I had heard dive into the reeds or anything else around when I spotted a bird walking along the dead sea grass. I could see it was a wader and it looked a bit stilt like but it was on its own and the beach had a few people walking along it, so dismissed the possibility. So I was quite surprised when I got closer and it turned out to actually be a black winged stilt Himantopus himantopus!
It was reasonably tolerant as it fed on isopods in the seagrass.
I had to lay flat on my belly and slide across the sand slowly to get these pics. At one point it stopped in a freshwater stream to drink
It was so relaxed it even stopped for a groom a couple of times.
And had a wash.
And just wandered around unfazed.
There was no sneaking up from behind though!
500 shots later, as I left it on the beach, I decided it was all in all a rather excellent wildlife encounter!
What a neat set of photos. I really like the ones showing how it has to crouch down to drink.