Began on wildlife drive this afternoon (Friday) and came across a small group of shorebirds in the canal on the right before Larue's. This is typically the solitary sandpiper spot and indeed there were 4 SOLITARY SANDPIPERS present with 1 LESSER YELLOWLEGS, 1 SPOTTED SANDPIPER in basic plumage and 1 LEAST SANDPIPER.
At Larue's the LEAST BITTERN show continues as there were at least 3 of them flying around. I also heard and then found a SORA. In addition, the marsh to the left of wildlife drive, had at least a dozen BLACK TERNS coursing around and higher up one CASPIAN TERN. At Benning Marsh, there was another small assortment of shorebirds. 3 KILLDEER, 1 SPOTTED SANDPIPER, 1 GREATER YELLOWLEGS AND 6 LEAST SANDPIPERS. Next stop was East Road overlooking K-M Marsh around 5 pm with good lighting and little shimmer. Best bird was a basic plumage WILSON'S PHALAROPE in with both yellowlegs species. This bird is presumably the same one that Tim Lenz found earlier in the day. This bird was actively feeding. There were also a few STILT SANDPIPERS, plenty of dowitcher sp. (I would assume SBDO), loads of yellowlegs of both species and quite a few LEAST SANDPIPERS. I also found several groups of SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS in a more grayish plumage which was very distinct from the browner LEAST. I also heard both species calls. In addition, there continues to be several BLACK TERNS, many CASPIAN TERNS. I saw only 1 GREAT EGRET which was odd. 2 SANDHILL CRANES also flew in which was cool. The lighting was decent and many of the above birds were close enough to get good looks with a scope. However if you look farther out from east road you see many more shorebirds toward towpath rd. It looked like most were yellowlegs, and peeps with some dowitchers. It was too distant, at least for me, to find anything unusual. This is no doubt a good start to the annual fall shorebird staging area at K-M Marsh and it would not surprise me if other species are there at this time or soon will show up. Dave Nicosia 1 -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
