Sunday Shots – A Pretty Good Week, 09/19/21

I enjoyed some pretty good birding this week and into the weekend. As regular readers of this blog know, I’m obsessed with shorebirds and that’s how I spent most of my birding time. I did not add any new species to my year list, but I just enjoyed the variety we’ve been having and trying for photos. The highlight was seeing the largest flock of American Golden-Plovers I’ve ever seen in the black dirt, a remarkable 76 birds. Two Buff-breasted Sandpipers continued up until Thursday evening, but I haven’t seen or heard any reports since then.

~American Golden-Plover at Skinners Lane, 09/17/21.
~Flock of American Golden-Plovers in flight over the fields of Skinners Lane, 09/14/21.~

On the weekend, I also went up to Mount Peter to see how the hawkwatch was going. Right now should be primetime for Broad-winged Hawk migration and I was hoping to see a kettle or two. I went Saturday for a about an hour or so, and unfortunately it was a bust. Sunday was another story and I enjoyed my most successful flight of Broad-winged Hawks ever. When I left in the early afternoon, over 2,500 BWHAs had been counted. We had over 1,500 in a single hour! I also saw the largest kettle I’ve ever seen, consisting of approximately 700 birds. It was remarkable. Will Test was the official counter, and nearly every other counter from Mt. Pete was there as well, giving him a hand and enjoying one of the best days of the season.

~Broad-winged Hawks kettling, Mount Peter Hawkwatch 09/19/21.~
~Most of the birds were quite high; these BWHAs were a little on the lower side. Mount Peter Hawkwatch, 09/19/21.~
~A young Bald Eagle in a field off of Turtle Bay Road…~
~…it was enjoying a snack of who-the-heck-knows-what. Turtle Bay Road 09/18/21.~
~Another American Golden-Plover, Skinners Lane 09/17/21.~
AMGPs in flight at Skinners Lane, 09/17/21.~
~If you are sick of the American Golden-Plovers, you are in luck. I looked for them early this afternoon and didn’t have any luck. AMGPs at Skinners Lane, 09/17/21.~
~Sandhill Crane stretching it out in the black dirt, 09/18/21.~

6 thoughts on “Sunday Shots – A Pretty Good Week, 09/19/21”

  1. Great Photos Matt. Thanks. We were in our Canoe and Kayak last weekend at Wickham lake in Warwick last weekend and were privileged to see a Mature Bald Eagle overhead and several Loons.

    1. Thanks John, I’ve really enjoyed this fall migration so far. It’s a great time of the year. Matt

  3. Beautiful shots as always, Matt. Love to read your blog and see what’s going on in the county that I’m missing!

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