For the 2nd straight July, shorebird habitat(flooded farm fields) is quite
ample in western Carver and eastern Sibley Counties. My first fall migrant, a
Least Sandpiper, showed up on June 30 near Assumption. Today, July 2, in
addition to Killdeer(not particularly numerous) I found 1 Spotted, 1 Solitary,
17 Least, 1 Baird's Sandpiper, and 4 Lesser Yellowlegs in Carver County and a
single Lesser Yellowlegs and 2 Least Sandpiper in Sibley County. Sibley
County had many flooded fields that either only produced Killdeer or no
shorebirds at all. Some fields in Carver County that had standing water on
June 30 had dried to mud today. Because of flooding along the south fork of
the Crow River, the spots that are normally checked for shorebirds in the New
Germany area(Yancy/Yale) have far too much water. It will take an extended
period of dry weather for that particular area to be productive which would
result in other areas of the county to not be productive.
As for the earlier Black-bellied Plover report, my shorebird guide states that
most Black-bellied Plovers arrive to their breeding grounds between late May
and mid-June while southbound migration for adults begins in mid-July. It
also states that some one year old birds migrate only partway north and don't
make it all the way to their breeding grounds.
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