Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia), wintering along the coast of Dhofar, Oman
Born in the misty wetlands of the North and photographed beneath the blazing sun of Oman, the Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) links two worlds that could hardly seem more different.
The name nebularia derives from the Latin nebula, meaning “mist” or “fog.” A tribute to the vast wetlands of northern Eurasia where the Common Greenshank breeds beneath the endless light of the boreal summer. Yet the bird in this photograph is thousands of kilometres away from those misty lands. Along the coast of Oman, bathed in the fiery glow of a setting sun, it continues one of the oldest journeys in the living world, linking each year the fogs of the North with the desert shores of the Arabian Peninsula.