[obol] Shorebirds (and a cool gull) Around Newport

[Cindy Ashy]

With my focus on the nesting seabirds at Yaquina Head for Bonding With
Birds...and after reading Tim R's posts and Phil P's posts...I felt I was
missing out on the "merry migration" of shorebirds so I went specifically in
search of them this afternoon.

At Sally's Bend:

12 Whimbrel

52 Long-billed Dowitcher (breeding plumage - very long and detailed look -
beautiful!)

108 Dunlin (varying degrees of breeding plumage)

at least 25 Western Sandpiper (I think there were more but the flocks kept
breaking up and then re-joining)

At All the Shoreline You Can See From Nye Beach Turnaround:

Glaucous Gull - "first spring" - perfect specimen mixed in with the usual
collection of gulls bathing - nice surprise

18 Whimbrel - feeding (mostly on some type of crustacean that kept scampering
away having to be re-caught a few times before they'd swallow it)

1 Marbled Godwit - feeding (jabbing beak much deeper into the sediment than the
Whimbrels at the same location)

7 Black-bellied Plover - flying by in breeding plumage - looked just like the
Sibley illustration (this is my first time to identify these in flight so kinda
cool)

Fun!

Cindy Ashy

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