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/ --