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| Long-billed Dowitcher (in front), Short-billed Dowitchers & Semipalmated Sandpipers |
The shorebirds are showing up in good numbers now--mostly Short-billed Dowitchers and Semipalmated Sandpipers. I'm happy to save my sight and let others squint through their scopes at the large flocks to find the less common species like Western Sandpiper and Stilt Sandpiper that are mixed in. Scott found a Marbled Godwit when we stopped at the NE corner, which is about the same place one was 3 weeks ago, and Mike came up with a bird that after much inspection in the glaring light and heat, the leaders all agreed was a Long-billed Dowitcher. Probably out of the all the shorebirds, differentiating between an LBDO from a SBDO is the hardest i.d. for me to make. This is why at least once a week, I like to bird with others, to pick up the birds I wouldn't be confident enough to list if I was by myself.
There is the concept among birders of the "sacrificial birder," i.e. the birder who leaves so that others can find the good birds. The concept worked twice at Brig. First it worked for us, those that remained, when about half the group left after lunch, not willing to face another 8 miles of heat, dust, and flies. We found, long the road to the Gull Pond and at the Gull Pond itself, a juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, a Green Heron, and best of all, a Least Bittern. All these birds are relatively scarce at Brig and the bittern is always an exciting find.
But then it worked against us, as, after we all left, the juvenile White Ibis was reported. We looked carefully through all 97 Glossy Ibises that were there, and with eyes like Scott's, Mike's, Linda's, et al, I seriously doubt it was overlooked. Yet, we weren't gone a half hour before someone filed a report on eBird that the bird was seen right where it had been for the last couple of days, about 1/4 mile before the observation tower. We were the sacrificial birders. Hey, it happens.
76 species
Canada Goose 225
Mute Swan 10
Wood Duck 8
American Black Duck 4
Mallard 55
Double-crested Cormorant 50
Least Bittern 1 Gull Pond
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 100
Snowy Egret 50
Little Blue Heron 1
Green Heron 1 Gull Pond
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 1 Gull Pond
Glossy Ibis 97
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 10
Clapper Rail 5 NE corner
Common Gallinule 1 Gull Pond
American Oystercatcher 1 Turtle Cove
Semipalmated Plover 6
Killdeer 1 Observation Tower
Whimbrel 13
Marbled Godwit 1 Large Cinnamon colored bird with upturned bill
Stilt Sandpiper 5
Least Sandpiper 10
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 320
Western Sandpiper 3
Short-billed Dowitcher 900
Long-billed Dowitcher 1 Larger redder with straight bill and rounded back
Greater Yellowlegs 10
Willet 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 8
Laughing Gull 100
Ring-billed Gull 2
Herring Gull 75
Great Black-backed Gull 5
Least Tern 2
Gull-billed Tern 4
Caspian Tern 1
Common Tern 1 NE Corner
Forster's Tern 60
Black Skimmer 50
Mourning Dove 8
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Heard
Peregrine Falcon 1 Hacking Platform
Willow Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 1 Heard
Great Crested Flycatcher 1 Heard
Eastern Kingbird 1
American Crow 1 Heard Upland
Fish Crow 7
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
Purple Martin 5
Tree Swallow 3
Bank Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 1
Tufted Titmouse 1 Heard
Marsh Wren 3 Heard
Carolina Wren 1 Heard
American Robin 1 Heard
Gray Catbird 2
European Starling 10
Common Yellowthroat 2 Heard
Yellow Warbler 1 Gull Pond
Seaside Sparrow 3
Chipping Sparrow 1 Heard
Field Sparrow 1 Heard
Northern Cardinal 1 Heard
Indigo Bunting 1 Heard
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Common Grackle 1
House Finch 5
American Goldfinch 2
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