Sunday, August 23, 2009

WPBO yesterday

Yesterday I took two new birders (Lynn and Betty) over to WPBO to see what was around. It was a great day for shorebirds, and a not-so-great day for landbirds due to the weather. A cold front overnight followed by strong north winds dropped a lot of shorebirds at the Point, we ended up with 9 species for the day being: Semipalmated Plover (10+), Piping Plover (1), Greater Yellowlegs (1), Whimbrel (2), Sanderling (30+), Semipalmated Sandpiper (20+), Least Sandpiper (15+), Baird's Sandpiper (10+), and Pectoral Sandpiper (1). 4 of those were new for my year list, putting me at 223. 90+ shorebirds is an amazing day in the Sault, and that doesn't include the flock of 50+ birds that took off before we could get an ID on them. There wasn't much else of note for the day, but the shorebirds and great company made it worth it.

Whimbrel looking for bugs


Piping Plover juvenile


2 Baird's and a Sanderling in flight

Whimbrel tracks in the sand

Juvenile Sanderling

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Many thanks to David for such a beautiful experience. It is especially gratifying to see the beautiful pics because as complete amateurs...we were a little overwhelmed trying to see the differences between the sandpipers!

Thanks again...May it is.

Michael said...

Terrific shots. Thanks for sharing.