4th June Beach combing and birding

June 4th iNaturalist observations here.

A morning with Sagarika.

 I saw a Cowrie shell for the first time in the sand, else only seen them in the markets!  And the Margin Shell Cryptospira glauca and the Bladder Moon Snail, I wrote about in Substack, here.

And below is the Crab which stood and stared...did not scuttle away as they usually do.  Just stood and stared, wiped its eyes, moved its mouth and claws, and continued to stare, even as the waves washed over it.

The Horn-eyed ghost crab (Ocypode ceratophthalmus)

We moved away from the waters, over the sand berm and towards the Thick-knees which I wanted to show her.

Ebird checklist and photos here.  

The Indian Thick-knees (Burhinus indicus) did their usual thing, standing unperturbed and still even when a cricket ball landed in the pole and a fielder charged after it, quite close to them.  they stared at him, he was oblivious of them. It is called hiding in plain sight, so good is their camouflage.

They are more active in the night and in the day they do just this.  Hide under vegetation.  Other Thiruvanmyur MNS members have been reporting their calls in the evenings.  

Try to find the two Thick-knees and the two Lapwings in this picture.