This morning I found a wet field at Agassiz NWR that had a good variety of shorebirds in it; well at least for late June. There were 9 species with 77 birds present. The most interesting bird was a lone White-rumped Sandpiper. The list: White-rumped Sandpiper-1 Least Sandpiper-7 Dunlin-1 Lesser Yellowlegs-22 Greater Yellowlegs-3 Semipalmated Plover-1
And even the resident shorebirds showed signs of migration at this spot: Marbled Godwit-8 Killdeer-27 Wilson's Snipe-7 To get to the flooded field: Take CR7 east 6 miles from headquarters, then take a right(south) for 1.1 miles and the field is on your left. The field is actually just off the refuge property. Other interesting Agassiz birds this last week: Short-eared Owl-CR 7 and CR 12 intersection Whip-poor-will-just off CR 7 near Parker Pool American Black Duck-A pair has spent the whole summer on South Pool...I haven't seen any ducklings yet. Virginia Rail-2 adults transporting 8 black, golf-ball sized chicks across CR 7...took the little guys 5 minutes to get across the road, falling over every pebble. The adults were running around them the entire time, corraling them and calling like mad. Alarm call sounds like a Black Tern's call....best view I'll ever get of Virginia Rails. Hopefully the shorebirds start showing up in big numbers....I'll keep checking the field. Ben Fritchman Agassiz NWR for now...
