Last Day of Shorebird Season at Whitesbog

Sanderling

It was raining when I got to Whitesbog this morning after not being there for a couple of days, the longest absence I've had since the end of July. The Middle Bog had lots of water in it and though it was raining fairly hard and had been since the early morning hours, I didn't think the rain could fill it up that much that quickly. And there was not, at first glance, a blessed bird in the bog, not even a duck. I drove around to the Lower Bog which was still muddy with patches of grass and there I found the usual flock of Mallards in the puddles and ditches with a few Green-winged Teals mixed in with them and finally, a couple of shorebirds--Greater Yellowlegs.  On the dam between the two bogs my friend pulled up and he told me that the boards had been put back into the gates of the Middle Bog, which is why the water was so high. And thus, the approximately 6 weeks of shorebird season at Whitesbog draws to a close. 

I would judge it to be an excellent season--not spectacular--but excellent. Almost all of the rare shorebirds we anticipate showed up this year--the only miss was Black-bellied Plover. But we had many species that are rare for the county (Stilt Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher) and shorebirds that are rare for New Jersey (Baird's Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Wilson's Phalarope). Western Sandpiper was also reported, but I missed that one. A new addition to the list was Sanderling, a very rare inland find. As it happens, two Sanderlings were there today, chasing each other around in the NE corner of the Middle Bog. As so often happens, the Middle Bog began attracting shorebirds mid-morning. As my friend & I stood there in there in the rain, we could see the activity picking up on the far side of the bog and driving around to there we also saw a couple of Lesser Yellows, a Pectoral Sandpiper and a couple of Least Sandpipers. Add the Killdeer that flew over us and for the last day it was a decent showing. 

Short-billed Dowitcher, Stilt Sandpiper

Other unusual birds there this season were Biff the Bufflehead who lasted through the 5th of August, a couple of Black-crowned Night-Herons one of which was there through the 12th, and a Common Merganser on Union Pond that I found this weekend. 

Just because I "declare" the season over is not to say that the shorebirds are suddenly going to stop. It will take a few days to fill the Middle Bog and probably longer for the Lower to get to capacity. But I feel that once the waters start rising it is time to start looking for confusing fall warblers. I'll still keep checking. If it takes a while for the Lower Bog to fill up, Dunlin and the aforementioned Black-bellied Plover are still possibilities and who knows what else. That's the great thing about a patch--the possibilities are fantastic even if the reality isn't.