Brig 6/3--Western Sandpiper (?), Yellow-breasted Chat

Looks like a Western Sandpiper

If you can't find 'em...give up and look somewhere else.

Yesterday, I was at Brig about 6:30 AM. I had a 3 part plan as to how I was going to bird the refuge and it required being there early.

The first two parts of the plan involved walking--I wanted to get my 4 miles walking in too--so I started out by walking down to the Gull Pond tower with my scope over my shoulder. I was hoping to find a couple of Black-necked Stilts that had been reported on Sunday and their last location was east of the Gull Pond where they could only be observed from the tower. I got about 25 species just walking the 1/2 mile or so from the parking lot to the tower, including a couple of singing Willow Flycatchers, but, as I half-suspected would be the case, no stilts.

After putting the scope back in the car (and booking a mile in total steps), I then went to part two of the plan, which meant walking up to the Refuge Overlook from the parking lot. Since I haven't been able to find a Yellow-breasted Chat at Assunpink, I decided to look for the one that has been heard singing in that area. Last year I had pretty good luck find a couple around there. So I walked the mile or so through the woods out to the open fields, picking up a lot more expected birds. As soon as I got out of the woods, I started listening and thought I heard the "blat blat blat" of a chat. Couldn't be sure though an besides, this is a bird I want to see, not just hear. I got to the overlook area (it used to called the Experimental Pool for obscure reasons) and this time I heard bird singing a crazy song as chats do. I was sure it was the chat and thought preceded visual confirmation by about one second as the  yellow & olive bird with spectacles popped into view, scolded me a for a couple of seconds and disappeared back into a bush, never to seen again. But I pumped my fist in happiness. Goodbye Assunpink for the summer.

By the time I got back to the parking (after also notching an Orchard Oriole at the overlook), I had a pretty good number of steps in and knew where I'd make up the balance. Part three of my plan was now in effect--do the traditional drive around the impoundments and look for the stilts. I never found them, despite stopping at every goose marker along the drive and scanning all the shorebirds--most of which were Semipalmated Sandpipers, though only numbering in the hundreds, not the thousands that sometimes can be found there. A few Least Sandpipers, a Dunlin, a Ruddy Turnstone, etc.

It wasn't until I was on the north dike that a bird seemed interesting to me. I was scanning a small flock of Glossy Ibises, hoping to find one with red knees and a red eyeball (White-faced Ibis) when I noticed some sandpiper scattered in among the taller birds. About a dozen Short-billed Dowitchers were in that section, plus some Dunlins, plus a few semis. Plus a really white sandpiper that I first thought must be a Sanderling (which would be very weird for that habitat), but it didn't really appear to be one. It was mostly white on the body, with a black scallop pattern on its wings and a slightly curved bill. Smaller than the Dunlins, about the same size as the semis. I looked through my Sibley's and the only bird I could come up with was Western Sandpiper--none of the exotics were feasible. I a picture from camera's view screen to Mike and he concurred. Normally, I am extremely hesitant to list Western Sandpiper on my own unless I'm standing right on top of one (or I'm in California), but this one stood out enough from the surrounding birds that I put it down, even though at this time of year it would be a rarity. Haven't heard from the eBird review one way or the other. So, if this section of the blog has strike-throughs in it, you'll know I was wrong. Either this is a leucistic sandpiper (which I always think is the last refuge of the confused birder) or a juvenile, though a juvenile at this time of year seems unlikely).

Dunlins with the very white sandpiper

At Jen's Trail I got in the rest of my mileage for the day and added a couple of more species to my list which totaled 73 for the day. That's an excellent tally for me, being on my own.

Canada Goose  120

Mute Swan  20

Wood Duck  2    One flushed from Gull Pond, the other flew over upland side

Mallard  17

American Black Duck  1

Mourning Dove  4

Clapper Rail  3    Heard

American Oystercatcher  3

Semipalmated Plover  2

Ruddy Turnstone  1

Dunlin  8

Least Sandpiper  10

Semipalmated Sandpiper  250

Western Sandpiper  1    

Short-billed Dowitcher  12

Spotted Sandpiper  2

Greater Yellowlegs  1

Willet  25

Lesser Yellowlegs  1

Laughing Gull  125

Herring Gull  50

Great Black-backed Gull  1

Gull-billed Tern  3

Common Tern  1

Forster's Tern  50

Black Skimmer  15

Double-crested Cormorant  12

Great Blue Heron  2

Great Egret  20

Snowy Egret  10

Glossy Ibis  27

Osprey  12

Bald Eagle  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  2    Heard

Northern Flicker  1

Willow Flycatcher  2    Road to Gull Pond

Great Crested Flycatcher  2

Eastern Kingbird  2

White-eyed Vireo  6

Blue Jay  6

American Crow  1    Heard

Fish Crow  6

Purple Martin  20    Conservative count

Tree Swallow  15

Barn Swallow  4

Carolina Chickadee  1    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  2    Heard

House Wren  1    Heard

Marsh Wren  2    Heard

Carolina Wren  2    Heard

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2

Eastern Bluebird  1

American Robin  4

Gray Catbird  10

Cedar Waxwing  1

House Finch  1    Heard

American Goldfinch  3

Chipping Sparrow  4

Field Sparrow  3

Seaside Sparrow  20

Song Sparrow  5

Eastern Towhee  3    Heard

Yellow-breasted Chat  1    

Orchard Oriole  1    Overlook

Red-winged Blackbird  80

Common Grackle  1    Flyover upland

Boat-tailed Grackle  1    At NE corner

Ovenbird  3

Common Yellowthroat  25

Yellow Warbler  3    Heard

Prairie Warbler  1    Heard Jen’s Trail

Northern Cardinal  4

House Sparrow  1    Parking lot