As a birthday gift to myself, my daughter Kayla, and I went on a RUFF
twitch to Howland Island. Her first bird chase I might add. The chase was
successful in yielding an absolutely stunning bird with not a mosquito in
sight. Dave Wheeler and friend Rose were already on the bird when we arrived so
the typical chase anxiety was immediately dissipated and many digiscope photos
ensued. At one point a MERLIN put up most of the shorebirds. They circled
around and landed back even closer. I could see both YELLOWLEGS, SOLITARY and
LEAST SANDPIPERS. In the grass could have been more species. Truthfully I spent
most of the time enjoying the Ruff show.
The thing I found most interesting was how much this area has changed.
There was a new drainage culvert installed with road grading, vegetation
removed and in general the place looked great. It's now a terrific wetland with
good, if wet and grassy, shorebird habitat. I'll need to explore the island
more to see what else is going on there, but it looks like this place will
continue to be a favorite of many people, including me.
Gary
--
Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm
ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds
3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html
Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/
--
