Whitesbog 7/31--Buff-breasted Sandpiper

If you drain it, they will come.

Already, draining the Lower Bog is paying big dividends.

Yesterday, one of the guys asked me when, now that shorebird season at Whitesbog is has begun, I'd be there next. 

"Monday," I replied.

"Really, not tomorrow?"

"It's not a job," I said. 

(digiscope)

But it is an obsession, so when, this afternoon, whilst watching the Mets game I got an alert that a Buff-breasted Sandpiper was in the Lower Bog, I said to Shari, "Gotta go," and was at Whitesbog within the half-hour. Fortunately, so was the birder who found it and more fortunately, so was the bird. It took a bit of time to get me on it, but eventually we found it again, running around on the mud. This is at least two weeks early for this species to appear. The bird was very fresh--a very buffy breast and crisp scalloped wings and backs. Very likely a first-year bird making its inaugural migration. 

The diversity of the bog was good again. Lots of Semipalmated Plovers and Semipalmated Sandpipers, the yellowlegs, the Solitary Sandpiper, and even the White-rumped Sandpiper continued. There were also 15 Glossy Ibis feeding alongside the apparently permanent flock of 7 Great Egrets. This morning, while I was at Colliers Mills, I got a text from another friend telling me that there were 3 Glossy Ibis there. Glossy Ibis is a good Burlco bird. But those only stayed a couple of minutes before flying off, saving me a trip there. I thought. 

In the one hour I spent standing on the western side of the Lower Bog, this is what I saw:

18 species
Mallard  9
Semipalmated Plover  20
Killdeer  4
Least Sandpiper  10
White-rumped Sandpiper  1     
Buff-breasted Sandpiper  1     
Pectoral Sandpiper  2
Semipalmated Sandpiper  20
Solitary Sandpiper  1
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Lesser Yellowlegs  2
Great Blue Heron  2
Great Egret  7
Green Heron  3
Glossy Ibis  15     
Turkey Vulture  1
Eastern Phoebe  1     
Red-winged Blackbird  1