Whitesbog 8/24--Baird's Sandpiper

Baird's Sandpipers

I got a "late" start today, arriving on the bogs at about 7:15. Already there were 3 birders on the dam between the Middle & Lower Bogs, staring intently into the Lower. "They must have something good," I said to myself and just as I pulled into the de facto parking area the alert went off: 2 Baird's Sandpipers ...Lower Bog.  This was doubly good. First of all, Baird's is a rare sandpiper anywhere in NJ so to have a pair in Whitesbog is an event and secondly, Baird's is a real hard bird (at least for me) to positively identify, so to have some expert eyes on it was a relief. And perhaps trebly good, because it showed that the grass emerging from the mud was starting to attract the grasspipers.  

I hoofed it double time down to the dam and had a hard time finding the birds until they were kindly put into my scope for me. They were very far away in the NE corner of the bog but obvious in the strong morning light. There were also a few Least Sandpipers in their vicinity for size and color comparison. 

The pictures I took were unsatisfactory. I hoped that later, like the phalarope on Sunday, they would move in closer. When I made my second loop my friend and I did find one very close in the Middle Bog. Like the phalarope, they were moving around. I suppose because it was a weekday the place didn't get as mobbed as it did Sunday--of the 4 birders who I talked to, though, it was lifer for two of them. Later in the afternoon, the two Baird's were together again, and closer, in the Lower Bog, more or less where the phalarope was last seen on Sunday.

Other notable sights were my first Wilson's Snipe at Whitesbog this year, three Gull-billed Terns, an adult and two begging juveniles, and another Merlin Murder in the Middle Bog, this time of a Semipalmated Sandpiper. 

There's still at least a week to go to get more grasspipers and perhaps something even exotic. I don't know how long the bogs will stay drawn down. I spoke to the farm briefly this morning and he indicated that he certainly didn't need the water this year, so perhaps the season will extend into September. Hard to say.