More Good OC Shorebirds, 09/06/21

This morning I met up with birding bud Bruce Nott and we once again hit the black dirt looking for shorebirds. Early on it was not looking good; we were not finding the multitudes of shorebirds we were hoping for, and the puddling was greatly reduced. We did have a single Baird’s Sandpiper at Skinners Lane, so that was nice. Our fortunes changed at Pine Island Turf Nursery. First off, the office was closed for the holiday, but luckily we ran into some of the folks from the nursery in the parking lot as they were leaving, and they gave us permission to go in and look for birds.

~A nice look at a Lesser Yellowlegs at Pine Island Turf Nursery, 09/06/21.~

There was a good number of shorebirds present and we had a pretty darn good list with a cool dozen species when it was all said and done:

  • Black-bellied Plover
  • Semipalmated Plover
  • Killdeer
  • SANDERLING
  • BAIRD’S SANDPIPER
  • Least Sandpiper
  • WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER
  • Semipalmated Sandpiper
  • Spotted Sandpiper
  • Solitary Sandpiper
  • Pectoral Sandpiper
  • Lesser Yellowlegs
~Wow, a relatively close Pectoral Sandpiper! PITN 09/06/21.~
~Sanderling in flight at Pine Island Turf Nursery, 09/06/21.~
~Baird’s Sandpiper alongside a Lesser Yellowlegs, PITN 09/06/21.~
~Great Egrets in a field at Pine Island Turf Nursery, 09/06/21.~
~I got lucky with this shot – I was focusing on the Lesser Yellowlegs, but happened to also catch what I believe is a Baird’s Sandpiper in flight ahead of the yellowlegs.~