Brigantine 7/20--Stilt Sandpiper

Group at Gull Pond
Photo: Shari Zirlin (from tower)

We went to Brig this morning to take a couple of turns around the Wildlife Drive with Birders Supreme, Scott Barnes & Pete Bacinski. It is hot as hell, but to shorebirds, this is already fall and southerly migration has begun. Huge numbers of Short-billed Dowtitchers (and a couple of candidates for Long-billed) and Semipalmated Sandpipers were all along the drive. A couple of Whimbrels in the marsh were a treat--they're already on their long journey to South America from the Arctic.

But it was the FOY Stilt Sandpipers we saw on the North Dike that were the highlight of the day for me (as well as what may turn out to be the final Bird A Day entry). The lesson there was to look carefully, as I always have to remind myself. Had we been going around by ourselves I would probably have dismissed the birds as more Lesser Yellowlegs (which we also saw), without looking closely to see the differences in structure, bill, and, what is usually the big tip off to me, feeding behavior. Because as soon as Scott pointed out the Stilts, I saw that as they fed they stick their rears high up in the air, whereas Lesser Yellowlegs, with slightly longer bills, can reach the water just be dipping down their heads.

The other cool lesson I got today was a good way to distinguish Lesser & Greater Yellowlegs by behavior: Greater Yellowlegs (along with American Avocets) are the only shorebirds that eat fish, so if you see a yellowlegs swishing its bill through the water (as avocets also do) you can be pretty confident you've got a greater.

For the 2 trips around the drive we came up with 49 species but a few other taxa:
Canada Goose  500
Mute Swan  6
Mallard  1
American Black Duck/Mallard  2
Double-crested Cormorant  17
Great Blue Heron  2
Great Egret  50
Snowy Egret  25
Little Blue Heron  3
Tricolored Heron  1
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1
Glossy Ibis  45
Osprey  10
Clapper Rail  1    Heard
Black-bellied Plover  2
Semipalmated Plover  2
American Oystercatcher  8
Greater Yellowlegs  2
Willet  10
Willet (Western)  3
Lesser Yellowlegs  15
Whimbrel  2
Semipalmated Sandpiper  1000
Least Sandpiper  4
Dunlin  1
Stilt Sandpiper  10
Short-billed Dowitcher  1000
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher  1
Laughing Gull  50
Herring Gull  25
Great Black-backed Gull  5
Gull-billed Tern  2
Caspian Tern  2
Forster's Tern  50
Black Skimmer  5
Mourning Dove  2
Peregrine Falcon  1
Eastern Kingbird  1
Blue Jay  1    Heard
crow sp.  3
Purple Martin  15
Tree Swallow  20
Bank Swallow  2
Barn Swallow  10
Carolina Wren  1    Heard
Gray Catbird  2
European Starling  20
Chipping Sparrow  1    Heard
Seaside Sparrow  3
Song Sparrow  1
Blue Grosbeak  1
Red-winged Blackbird  75
American Goldfinch  3    Heard