Shorebirds, 08/26/23

Yesterday was quite a day in our area for shorebirds, with many excellent birds reported. In the black dirt, the best new species included Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Baird’s Sandpiper, and American Golden-Plover. In Sullivan County, John Haas had a WHIMBREL at Morningside Park – read about it here. Unfortunately, I was working most of the day, and then unable to get out after work as well.

~Semipalmated Plover in the black dirt, 08/26/23.~

I hit the black dirt early this morning and I was able to locate (2) Buff-breasted Sandpipers; definitely the bird of the day for me. The Baird’s Sandpiper was reported, but I was unable to catch up with it. I enjoyed a very close up encounter with a pair of Semipalmated Plovers; what a cute and excellent bird to see up close. The Camel Farm pond is overrun with vegetation, which has made birding that location even more frustrating than it usually is. Today I heard and caught glimpses of loads of Lesser Yellowlegs there; goodness knows what kind of species are hidden from view there.

~Least Sandpiper at Skinners Lane, 08/26/23.~
~I took loads of photos of the 2 Semipalmated Plovers; I’ll likely post more in tomorrow’s Sunday Shots. SEPL in the black dirt, 08/26/23.~
~Excellent Bird. Too bad this pair of Buff-breasted Sandpipers were too far out for decent photos, but they looked amazing in the scope. Black dirt 08/26/23.~

4 thoughts on “Shorebirds, 08/26/23”

  1. Matt,
    So glad you were able to catch up with some of the great shorebirds in Orange today. You never know how that will go. Glad they hung in there for you! John

    1. I was grateful that most of them hung in there. Now I just need to catch up with that darn Baird’s! Matt

  2. Hi Matt,
    Once again, thank you for sharing your bird observations. I am a little ignorant of the Black Dirt area. So my question, how much water is there in the black dirt area for shore birds to be present. Is the water a collection from rains, runoffs, etc? And I guess, that the shorebirds must be flying overhead when they see the water? I always thought shore birds were associated with beaches, river shores, etc.
    Just wondering…..
    Hope you are well.
    John

    1. Hi John, good to hear from you. I too associated shorebirds with beaches/shorelines, and to me, that’s what makes finding shorebirds in our area so exciting – it’s a little unexpected. Puddling, when it occurs, is a big draw to shorebirds. But, just the open farmlands and in particular sod fields, will draw in many of these shorebirds. My photos in this post all show water (puddles in this case), but you’ll find birds just as often in the fields. Today we had approximately 60 shorebirds in a single field with no puddles/water at all. Thanks for checking in. Matt

Comments are closed.