Whoops... More Dunlin

Apparently I'm not quite through with the Dunlin that have been frequenting the Cap Sante Marina for the past several weeks.  We had a beautiful afternoon on 3/21 so I went down and inserted myself among the rocks... right above a flock of about 25-30 Dunlin who were retreating from a rising tide.  As the tidelands were disappearing the Dunlins' activity changed from feeding to preening and once the mudflats had completely disappeared they began sleeping... except in most cases there was always one eye open. 

Strangely enough, in this group of Dunlin, some of which I couldn't see well, there were at least two that apparently had only one leg. The Dunlin were nice enough to stay in place while I crawled among the rocks right above them, so I was probably only about 20' from them. 

After a long wait a Common loon swam by a couple of times and I was assisted in photographing this bird by a couple of boats that were being repositioned and not only received the bulk of the loon's attention but nudged it over to me.  It seemed to be doing at least as much preening as hunting for food.