All I have to say is "Holy Crap" Lewiston was chock full of birds so hold on to your knickers.
Hudsonian Godwit - 4 individuals - 2 in breeding plumage Bairds Sandpiper - 1 Least Sandpiper - 1 Dunlin - 6 Pectoral Sandpiper - 300 plus or minus 50 (wow!!) Wilson's Snipe - 20 plus or minus 4 Greater Yellowlegs - 16 plus or minus 3 Lesser Yellowlegs - 13 plus or minus 3 Lapland Longspur - hundreds ( some in brilliant breeding plumage) Northern Shovler Blue Winged Teal Green Winged Teal Lesser Scaup Pied Billed Grebe American Coot Bald Eagle I arrived at the lagoons about 5:25 and was giddy with delight as there were so many shorebirds. As I scanned the bunch, I noticed the 4 godwits. I studied them extensively and took a lot of good notes. I was pretty convinced they were Hudsonians when the whole bunch of shorebirds took flight as a Bald Eagle flew over. I got the scope on the flying godwits and clinched the ID by observing the white rump and white stripe on the wing. The white rump stood out on all 4 birds as they circled 4 times before landing. What a beautiful bird. I then took the time to take some more notes and study the other shorebirds. After a while a local birder named John Weaver stopped by and I showed him the godwits. At about 6:30, John Hockema and Helen Tucker showed up and had nice looks of the godwits standing in the water of the ponds. As John was scoping the other shorebirds he pulled out a Baird's Sandpiper from the mix. I never regret stopping at the Lewiston Sewage ponds on my daily commute. Chad Aakre Winona County _________________________________________________________________ Check out MSN PC Safety & Security to help ensure your PC is protected and safe. http://specials.msn.com/msn/security.asp
