Brig 5/29--Black-necked Stilt, Red-necked Phalarope

Black-necked Stilt

Two out of three isn't bad. Some interesting birds, more or less rare, have been seen at Brig the last week or so but it took 3 of them to reach critical mass for me. The chief attraction was Black-necked Stilt, one of my favorite shorebirds, and not just because it's easy to identify. Red-necked Phalarope was also reported along with a Curlew Sandpiper that seemed to make irregular appearances mixed in with a flock of Dunlin. By orthography you can see the two birds I found today. And I got them very early in the morning, so that by 8 o'clock I could do "real" birding, not chasing. The Red-necked Phalarope I saw first, at Goose Marker 4, where it had been reported. I didn't have to look very hard, since as soon as I plunked down my scope, a birder next to me told me where it was. It was spinning crazily, as phalaropes do, and because it was a female, and thus brightly colored (unlike most birds, the females have the gaudy plumage), there was no dithering over whether it was a Wilson's Phalarope. 

I was going back to put my scope in the car and move on to GM 5 (where the Curlew Sandpiper was last seen) & then to the tower (where the stilt was last seen), when I heard my fellow birder give out a whoop. I look up the road and there, having just flown in, was the Black-necked Stilt. It pranced right before me and headed towards the phalaropes. So far, so easy. 

However, at GM 5 there were only a very few Dunlins and no Curlew Sandpiper among them. At the tower, a stilt appeared again. I thought it odd that it had flown back so suddenly, but birds have wings. I was walking back to GM 5 to give the Curlew Sandpiper another chance to add to my year list, when a photographer stopped me to say he'd just photographed a stilt down the road. "Well, there must be two," I told him, "Or else it's hyperactive," I thought. 

GM 5 still had no Curlew Sandpiper and thus it was on to regular birding. Almost all the expected birds were there today in their expected places. See my list. On the east dike I saw an American Oystercatcher on the island where the Osprey platform is and then a shorebird I couldn't figure out until I realized that it was a fairly large oystercatcher chick feeding in the mud and the adult seemed to be keeping an eye on it like a mother with her kid down the shore.   I drove around to Jen's Trail and parked and then walked from there to the Gull Tower and back getting a nice mix of land birds, including Blue Grosbeak in the usual tree at the start of the road to the Gull Tower, a handsome Orchard Oriole on the old railbed trail, and coming back, I listened to the raucous blatherings of a Yellow-breasted Chat.

Red-necked Phalaropes

After lunch I decided to do one more circuit. I didn't expect to see the Curlew Sandpiper, but I was hoping for some other terns, herons, or shorebirds. When I got a little past GM 4, I looked in the channel and saw the Red-necked Phalarope much closer to the road and then I saw two! Fortunately, they were close together so I could photograph the pair. So far, I'm the only one to report two for the day. 

But other than adding 10 Great Black-backed Gulls to the day list, all the second trip around accomplished was to add more dust to the car. 

Day list:

68 species
Canada Goose  50
Mute Swan  12
Mallard  25
American Black Duck  16
Ruddy Duck  2     Tower
Mourning Dove  5
Clapper Rail  2
Black-necked Stilt  1     
American Oystercatcher  2
Black-bellied Plover  1
Ruddy Turnstone  30
Dunlin  25
Least Sandpiper  10
Semipalmated Sandpiper  750
Red-necked Phalarope  2     
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Willet  10
Laughing Gull  100
Herring Gull  20
Great Black-backed Gull  10
Least Tern  2
Gull-billed Tern  1
Common Tern  1
Forster's Tern  30
Black Skimmer  15
Double-crested Cormorant  4
Great Blue Heron  5
Great Egret  11
Snowy Egret  5
Black-crowned Night-Heron  2
Glossy Ibis  12
Turkey Vulture  4
Osprey  10
Bald Eagle  2
Northern Flicker  1     Heard
Eastern Wood-Pewee  2     Heard
Willow Flycatcher  2     Heard
Eastern Phoebe  1     Heard
Great Crested Flycatcher  1     Heard
Eastern Kingbird  2
White-eyed Vireo  3     Heard
Blue Jay  3
American Crow  3
Fish Crow  2
Tufted Titmouse  1     Heard Jen's Trail
Purple Martin  10
Tree Swallow  9
Barn Swallow  4
House Wren  3     Heard
Marsh Wren  6     Heard
Carolina Wren  5     Heard
European Starling  8
Gray Catbird  15
Northern Mockingbird  1     Atop Visitor's Center
American Goldfinch  1     Flyover
Field Sparrow  2     Heard
Seaside Sparrow  5     Heard
Song Sparrow  2
Eastern Towhee  3     Heard
Yellow-breasted Chat  1     Heard upland section
Orchard Oriole  1
Red-winged Blackbird  70
Ovenbird  3     Heard
Common Yellowthroat  10
Yellow Warbler  5     Heard
Pine Warbler  1     Heard
Northern Cardinal  2
Blue Grosbeak  1