It’s September and if we’re going to see a solitary sandpaper, or any shorebirds here at the Museum, there’s a good chance it’s going to be in September. And so it was on 8 September. It was closing time and I was making the rounds. I spotted a small white object perched on a rock in the Wetlands. It had to be a shorebird, either spotted or solitary sandpiper. I took out my camera, had a look through the viewfinder and zoomed in. Sure enough,Read more
Posts tagged: #Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
A Spotted Sandpiper stopped in at the Museum on Saturday (4/7/11). We don’t often see shorebirds at the Museum, so whenever one does show up it’s worth mentioning. Spotted Sandpipers are one of four species I would expect to see here. The other three shorebirds likely to be seen are Solitary Sandpiper, Killdeer, and Least Sandpiper. All but the latter have been seen. I’m waiting patiently for the Least Sandpipers to arrive!Read more
A Few Migrants and Local Family Groups
After being absent for nearly 3 months, 14 Canada Geese flew into the Wetlands, looked around some, fed, and then preened for several hours before taking flight for points unknown. The geese looked to be a family group (probably two families) as the bulk of them appeared to be young birds, perhaps on their first flight away from wherever it was they were hatched. At least four Mallards remain in the Wetlands. These birds are most certainly a family group, although theRead more
Looking Back: Birds
With the closing of the year it’s perhaps time to look back and see what we’ve observed on the Explore the Wild/Catch the Wind Loop. Below, in the appropriate segments, I give totals for some of the species seen since January of last year. There were 101 species of bird observed during 2008 at the Museum including such unlikely species as Double-crested Cormorant, Black-crowned Night-heron, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Osprey, Bald Eagle (3), and Northern Harrier. All of those species wereRead more