Sorry I omitted there was also a Ruddy Turnstone running around on dry mud
among the sparser cattails and prying up small clods of dirt in lieu of stones.
Thanks again to all who helped make these trips happen. That includes both
refuge staff, Andrea Van Beusichem and Linda Ziemba in particular, but also
whoever mows the dikes, and all the birders working together. I believe Dave
Nicosia is leading a similar trip at 7am from the Visitor Center to K-M the
next 2 Saturday mornings, September 2 & 9, and Mike Tetlow is leading one
starting later on Saturday September 16. I hope to be there and see many of you
at the next one.
--Dave Nutter
PS - "White-rumpled Sandpiper" is a fiction from the world of auto-incorrect
spelling. The bird was very plump, but not at all rumpled, and in fact it did
briefly show a white rump in flight, although that was not how we identified
it. White-rumped Sandpiper is what I swear I wrote.
> On Aug 26, 2017, at 10:22 PM, Dave Nutter wrote:
>
> About 30 of us birders walked onto the dikes at Knox-Marsellus Marsh on
> Saturday morning seeking shorebirds. Habitat was a bit limited due to lots of
> vegetation, and numbers of visible birds were a bit on the low side, but
> there was good variety despite some flightiness, falcon harassment, and
> apparent turnover.
>
> Shorebirds included:
> Killdeer - common
> Semipalmated Plover - several
> Semipalmated Sandpiper - common
> Least Sandpiper - common
> White-rumpled Sandpiper - at least 1, possibly several
> Baird's Sandpiper - at least 3 together
> Stilt Sandpiper - at least 4 together
> Pectoral Sandpiper - several
> Short-billed Dowitcher - at least bright 3 juveniles
> Long-billed Dowitcher - at least 1 juvenile (which I missed)
> Wilson's Snipe - at least 4 together (which I missed)
> Lesser Yellowlegs - common
> Greater Yellowlegs - several
> Wilson's Phalarope - 2 together
> Most of these would have been very difficult to see from either East Road or
> Towpath Road.
>
> Other highlights included:
> Trumpeter Swan - a pair flew in, calling, from Puddler to K-M
> Sora - 2 adults
> Virginia Rail - at least 2, possibly 3 adults
> Sandhill Crane - a pair flew in, calling from the south to K-M
> Various non-breeding plumage dabbling ducks which generally kept their
> distance but settled within sight
> Great Egrets - a few
> Caspian Terns - a resting flock
> Peregrine Falcon - at least 1 quick flyby which scared off many shorebirds
> Merlin - which I missed
> Northern Harrier - 1 hunting over adjacent marshy fields, possibly another
> soaring high overhead with a Red-tailed Hawk
>
> Thanks to all the folks who helped share sightings, questions, & ID help.
> Thanks also to refuge staff for their efforts in the difficult task of
> creating shorebird habitat despite the conspiracies of weather & vegetation,
> and for allowing us onto the dikes for far better looks at the birds.
> --Dave Nutter
>
>
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