John Hockema, Carol Schumacher, and myself had the look of deer in the headlights as we stared at the multitudes of shorebirds tonight at Lewiston Sewage Ponds, Winona County.
Heres the data in order of abundance: Pectoral Sandpipers - 1000 plus of minus 200 Lesser Yellowlegs - 800 +-100 Greater Yellowlegs - 100 +-25 Dunlin - 60 +-25 Semipalmated Plover - 30 +-10 Least Sandpiper - 30 +- 20 Bairds Sandpiper - 15 Wilsons Phalerope - 10 (Most in beautiful breeding plumage, spinning like crazy!) Killdeer - 10 Short - billed Dowitcher - 8 Spotted Sandpiper - 4 American Golden Plover - 2 Hudsonian Godwit - 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper - 1 (we only IDed one but there were probably more) Also: Western Meadowlark Savannah Sparrow Cliff Swallow Snow Goose - One individual Bank Swallow Chimney Swift Northern Shovler Hooded Merganser Blue Winged Teal Green Winged Teal Mallard Scaup sp. Utica Sewage Ponds: Willet - one individual ( thanks Carol!) Wilsons Snipe Lesser Yellowlegs Greater Yellowlegs Spotted Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper I was at Lewiston from about 4:30 to 8. We had a really good time studying Dowitchers, peeps, and just plain taking the abundance in. It was truely a special thing to see and be a part of. We agreed that we have never seen numbers like that at Lewiston before. Truely awesome!! Chad Aakre Winona County _________________________________________________________________ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar get it now! http://toolbar.msn.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/
