Brig 7/21--Stilt Sandpiper

Astonishingly bad digiscope photos of Stilt Sandpiper, on top at left, top bird on right, on right

I finally got another year bird today. It gets harder and harder as the summer drags on. Shari & I joined Scott's trip to Brig today on a very unsummer-like day--cool, overcast, "breezy" (read gale-force winds) with intermittent rain, at first, which turned into a downpour on our second trip around. 

While I have spent the last couple of weeks looking for a Royal Tern, I didn't think the chances of finding one at Brig were too good and I was right. This left, unless something really weird showed up, as the only possibility for a year bird, Stilt Sandpiper as the bird to find. I even had Western Sandpiper from earlier in the year, so while everyone was trying to pick one of those out of the hundreds of Semipalmated Sandpipers, I looked at one and then mentally moved on. As my friend Dave said, it isn't much fun sorting through a flock of sandpipers looking for the few oddballs, especially at a distance in gray light and stiff wind. 

On the north dike we ran across another big flock of Short-billed Dowitchers and Linda, who has patience, was able to pick out the "one that does not belong" a very obvious (once you got on it) Stilt Sandpiper. It was starting to spritz by then and it the bird was in the middle distance so I tried a few digiscope photos even though the tripod was swaying in the wind. The very poor results are above. 

In a way, it's a good example, because a lot of times, this is actually what the birds really look like "in the field"--you can tell what they are only by comparing them to what is around them. They sure don't look like the portraits in the field guides. At least today, the Western Sandpiper I saw was close enough to get all the field marks, or at least the ones I use, since looking for "chevrons" on the flanks is a mug's game as far as I'm concerned. 

Because of the conditions, I wasn't particularly interested in taking photos, but this Blue Grosbeak was so cooperative that after watching it perched atop a bush for a minutes, I took the camera out of the car and made this photo.

The teeth-gnasher of the day was when Scott called out Least Bittern flying over the impoundment and I missed it. Even worse was that Shari didn't! The Roseate Spoonbill was reported today but went unseen by our group. The only "rarity" we found was the continuing Green-winged Teal.

I managed 54 species for the day, which isn't bad considering the skies and the winds and the precipitation. 

Canada Goose 150
Mute Swan 40
Wood Duck 1
Mallard 20
American Black Duck 2
Green-winged Teal 1
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Great Blue Heron 4
Great Egret 50
Snowy Egret 10
Black-crowned Night-Heron 4
Glossy Ibis 15
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 10 undercount
Cooper's Hawk 1
Clapper Rail 5
American Oystercatcher 1
Semipalmated Plover 5
Killdeer 1
Whimbrel 2
Stilt Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 5
Semipalmated Sandpiper 300
Western Sandpiper 1
Short-billed Dowitcher 200
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Willet 3
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Laughing Gull 150
Herring Gull 55
Great Black-backed Gull 60
Least Tern 6
Gull-billed Tern 4
Caspian Tern 1
Common Tern 1
Forster's Tern 45
Black Skimmer 50
American Crow 1
Fish Crow 2
Purple Martin 2
Tree Swallow 10
Barn Swallow 25
Marsh Wren 3 Heard
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 1
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling 2
Common Yellowthroat 5 Heard
Seaside Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 1 Heard
Blue Grosbeak 1 Start of Wildlife Drive
Red-winged Blackbird 20
House Finch 1 Heard
American Goldfinch 2