[obol] Where to find Buff-breasted Sandpipers

[Alan Contreras]

I have seen a lot of Buff-breasted in Oregon.  Only one was on a standard
mudflat.  Almost all of them were in more open partially-grassy sites, on
either sand or drier mud.  Anyplace you might find a golden-plover or a
flock of pipits.  

I have seen several on remarkably open beach sand with only the most nominal
hints of grass around, though not at the water's edge, more up toward the
wrack line.  

In the Siuslaw deflation plain, where I have seen them a number of times,
they are in open flats of spike-rush clumps on a substrate that is a mix of
sand and mud, mostly sand.

-- 
Alan Contreras
EUGENE, OREGON

acontrer at mindspring.com
OREGONREVIEW.BLOGSPOT.COM

Nostalgic for Nixon....



> From: Mike Patterson <celata at pacifier.com>
> Reply-To: <celata at pacifier.com>
> Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 17:25:44 -0800
> To: <Jfitchen at aol.com>, Obol <obol at lists.oregonstate.edu>
> Subject: Re: [obol] Places I've seen Buff-breasted Sandpipers
> 
> This seems like a question more than one person might have so I'm
> going to cross-post to OBOL....
> 
> The very first Buffies I ever saw were in a cow pasture at King Avenue
> (now gone moto-cross, ATV's and dredge spoils).  I have seen them in the
> pastures at Wireless Rd.
> 
> Neal Maine has photos of a Buff-breasted on the grassy fringe of the
> Seaside Airport just north of Stanley Lake.
> 
> They seem to favor the salicornia at the South Jetty of the Columbia.
> I saw a flock of six there one year.  I have full-frame photos of those.
> 
> I've seen them on Clatsop Beach.
> 
> The first time we found them at the Necanicum they were in the dunes
> along the jeep trail (where we usually go looking for Chestnut-collared
> Longspurs).  Of late they are more usually found between the Lyngby's
> Sedge and dune scarp at the far western edge of Little Beach.  Today,
> I found them on the sand-flats, though I first saw them from a distance
> poking around the algae mat near the tide puddles.
> 
> If one spends enough time, one can find just about any shorebird
> anywhere, but I generally associate Buff-breasted Sandpipers with
> shortgrass pasture areas or salicornia.
> 
> John Fitchen queried:
>> Hello Mike,
>>  
>> Nice sighting on the Buff-Breasteds.  I'm curious to know the type
>> of habitat they occupied so that I can focus my search for this
>> species in Multnomah County.  Was it open mudflat, vegetated (fully
>> or partially), wet, dry?  Any detail would be much appreciated.
>>  
>> Thanks,
>>  
>> John Fitchen
>> Portland
> 
> -- 
> Mike Patterson   
> Astoria, OR      
> celata at pacifier.com
>  
> Malheur NWR Photo Essay
> http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/mbalame/archives/2007/05/malheur200705.html
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