Spent 3.5 hours at Cedar Point on Lake Buchanan this morning. 40 species total including 5 Tri-colored herons and a Bushtit. 10 species of shorebirds including 3 new ones for the fall shorebird season: Marbled Godwit, Black-bellied Plover and Greater Yellowlegs.
Conditions look pretty good there for shorebirds. I had 5 flocks of peeps fly by, but only able to scope 2 groups that landed.
15 Species of shorebird at Hornsby this morning. Here’s a Quiz bird for Shorebird class.
Now is a good time to visit Hornsby to study the 3 small peeps (as Allan and I did this morning). Notice how the “frostier” semipalm and Western stick out in a group of brown Least. Notice the chevron marks on flanks of Western and lack of on Semipalm. Notice how colorful western is and…
I enjoyed the sunrise at Cedar point on Lake Buchanan yesterday and with the approaching Festivus season (“the festivus for the rest of us”) it was nice to find many of these beautiful Axarus festivus (as I’m told by iNat) a variety of midge.
Thanks to Terry for letting me know about this Red-necked Phalarope at Hornsby. I re-found it at noon today.
I estimated 330 Wilson’s phalarope at Hornsby in this flock, about 100 in a 2nd flock yesterday. 12 shorebird species.
Had 13 shorebird species at Lake Balmorhea this morning. American Avocet, Less Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Snowy Plover, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Long-billed Curlew, Upland Sandpiper, Black-necked stilt, Solitary Sandpiper, Wilson’s Phalarope, and Western Sandpiper. Other birds of interest were: an early Ring-billed gull, Tricolored Heron, Black terns, Forster’s Tern, Neotropic cormorant and Black and…
