Reed Sod Farm 9/24--Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

For the second time this month I drove up to the Reed Sod farm on Herbert Road, even though I knew the conditions regarding traffic both getting there and along the road were not as pleasant as on a Sunday morning. But it was the only spot on my weather apps that appeared to be out of the winds have already begun as a precursor to this weekends supposed nor'easter. Over the weekend I had seen good reports from there, so despite my misgivings I went, taking the long detour around the horse farms where Rt 539 is closed. 

Horned Lark,
juvenile

I parked, as I usually do, in the Union Transportation Trail lot on Sharon Station Road. Parking is usually almost impossible on Herbert Road and now that the county is putting in new sewer grates, absolutely impossible. I was gladdened to see that the field that earlier in the month was four feet high in weeds had been chopped down and that the field was now barren. I saw a few birds flying low in there and when I scoped them, found that they were Horned Larks, flitting among the clods of mud and clay. That seemed fitting--Horned Larks love the crappiest ground around. While the larks weren't year birds, or even county birds, I'm always happy to see them. 

Then I started to walk along Herbert, stepping up onto the grass whenever there was an oncoming car and truck--considering the time of day, not that many, really. But by the time I got the house/office I could see trucks and machinery moving around. They were harvesting sod (shocker!) and that made me pessimistic about finding any grasspipers. But I shouldered on...literally with the scope on my shoulder until I got to the little psuedo-parking pull-out, now blocked by traffic cones.

Harvesting sod

I scoped past where they were stripping the sod off the ground to the bare earth and saw quite a few Killdeers there. That made me hopeful. What made me more hopeful were a couple of fleeting glimpses of birds that obviously were not Killdeers, but I needed a better angle. So I continued on until I was 3/4 of the way to Old York Road and plunked down the scope again. The first non-Killdeer I spotted was a Pectoral Sandpiper (new for the year). I often dither over whether a shorebird is a Pectoral or just a Least Sandpiper that looks big, but this one was a no-doubter--the bird was facing me, and the "vest" was prominent, dark and coming down to a sharp edge just below the breast.

And then I saw what I had really come for--a Buff-breasted Sandpiper mixed in with the Killdeers. Like all the other birds, it was beyond the sod on the harvested area. I was able to use pallets and folded sod piles as landmarks in order to aim my camera to get the poor photos it was able to take at such a distance. I was thinking that the buffie was moving around pretty well until I realized that there were actually two. 

Even in Upper Freehold the wind was blowing pretty well--I'd hate to think what it was like on the shore, so scoping eventually became tiresome as the lens shook. I had what I'd hoped for. Apparently, the shorebirds don't care about the machinery running back and forth or else they're farther away from the activity than it appears in the foreshortening scope. I turned back, put the scope in the car and took a walk on the UTT, where I saw and heard nothing I wouldn't expect. Still, two year birds at this late date is an accomplishment for me.