[obol] The Bassackwards Plover

[DAVID IRONS]

Greetings All,

The Golden-Plover I found this morning at Fern Ridge was definitely a 
Pacific.  I was misremembering which species shows the greatest primary 
extension (American) causing me to assign the wrong name to this bird 
initially.  As Don Schrouder mentioned in his post, once I reminded myself 
of which is which with quick check of the field guide, I called Don and Paul 
back to let them know.

The Semipalmated Sandpiper was a faded adult that was seen well in 
comparison to many Western Sandpipers.

I really hated leaving for work this morning because shorebirds were 
continually flying in the entire time I was there.  I did not see either the 
Godwit or the Whimbrel.  The Common Tern showed up about two minutes before 
I left or I would have missed that as well.  One other bird that it appears 
no one else had was the Black-bellied Plover that I had fly over very high 
shortly after I arrived.  It continued to the south and never landed on the 
mudflats.

The middle pond (between Redhead Pond and the observation platform) will 
definitely dry up earlier than normal this year.  They are pumping water 
from this pond to maintain water levels in the pond west of the observation 
deck. Right now the amount of mudflat in the middle pond is about 2-3 weeks 
ahead of the normal draw-down pattern.

Shorebirding should be excellent from now through early September at Fern 
Ridge.  Now is the time to be looking for adult stints, Curlew Sandpiper or 
maybe something better.  Steve Mlodinow found a fading adult Red-necked 
Stint near Seattle about 7-8 days ago.  We are still about three weeks away 
from the first juvenile shorebirds arriving.

My list of shorebirds this morning included:

Pacific Golden-Plover  -- 1
Black-bellied Plover --1
Killdeer -- 25
Black-necked Stilt -- 1
Greater Yellowlegs -- 22+
Lesser Yellowlegs -- 1=
Western Sandpiper -- 60
Least Sandpiper -- 20-25
Semipalmated Sandpiper -- 1
Long-billed Dowitcher -- 6
Wilson's Phalarope -- 5 juvs.

Tossing in the additional species found by others and there were 13 species 
of shorebirds at Fern Ridge today.

See you on the dikes,

Dave Irons

_________________________________________________________________
http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=hmtextlinkjuly07