I thought I’d start using my website to describe small birding, nature and other adventures going forward, rather than FB. Since “summer” ended and “fall” has begun (in shorebird migration terms anyway), I’ve visited Hornsby 3 times, seeing 16 species cumulatively. Here are my scoreboards: I was very pleased to find this Short-billed Dowitcher on…
Saw some rain coming yesterday so headed to Hornsby for another shorebird and migrant fix!! Lots of White-rumped Sand, a flyby of 3 Black-bellied Plovers, Semipalm plovers, beautiful breeding plumage phalaropes, Dowitchers, and Stilt sands and the first time to ever see all 5 peeps on the same day!! Also lots of wet swallows, migrating…
17 species of shorebird this morning at Hornsby. Ties my personal best at Hornsby and I just missed the BB Plover that was reported. Migrating Franklin’s Gulls and White-faced Ibis also cool.
14 species of shorebird at Hornsby this morning. I’m surprised I haven’t seen Western or WHite-rumped Sandpipers yet. The fun part today was 20 Hudsonian Godwits flying over the ponds and then 4 landed and stuck around for 15 minutes.
15 species of shorebird yesterday at Hornsby. But this Chestnut-collared longspur was a treat. Seems to be a young male with a hint of black on belly and a hint of chestnut on collar. Good looks at Baird’s Sandpiper, American Golden Plover and both yellowlegs were also a pleasure!
Continuing with Gulls FT last weekend: These 3 made about 5 passes in a very interesting display just for us!!!
Had a great trip with the 2024 Gulls Class to Galveston etc. Highlight was the California Gull initially found by Sarah “blue legs” Womack!! Palm Warbler found by Doug was also a great bird!! We had 6 gull species and numerous shorebirds.
We recently read a very good book called “Orison for a Curlew”(Orison = prayer). It’s about the Slender-billed Curlew of Europe. Some of the narrative took us to places we had birded in Bulgaria. I highly recommend!! https://www.goodreads.com/…/27278141-orison-for-a-curlew Regretfully, on a Bulgaria birding site, I just saw this article on the end of the story….
Can ya’ll ID these 3 Texas winter shorebirds: 1/5/25, Galveston East Beach. Started the shorebird scoresheet for 2025 with 12 species.
Went to Corpus yesterday. Here’s some winter shorebirds.
