MBSP and Magee sightings early Sep 2006

Over the past week I have had a good variety of shorebirds at the Lake Erie Beach. Earlier in the week highlights included 1-White-rumped Sandpiper and 3- Baird's Sandpipers.

Early this morning a juvenile Black-bellied Plover was a nice find, gorgeous in this subtle yet somehow striking plumage. A Dunlin on the beach was a bit unusual but my second of the season here, a worn, molting adult. Finally a Buff-breasted Sandpiper flew in and provided some good looks on the beach before it moved up to the grass stips between the parking lots.

The other expected beach going shorebirds have been present in varying numbers. No Turnstones today but some Sanderlings, Semi Plovers, Semi Sandpipers, a Least Sandpiper lots of Killdeer and a couple of Spotted Sandpipers.

A couple of pointers at the beach. If you plan on getting close to a shorebird to photograph be sure it is not associating with Killdeer....they usually do an alarm call and take off long before you get anywhere near, often prompting the other birds to take off with them. Also, the shorebirds that are feeding and roosting near the large flock of gulls and terns will usually take flight if the larger birds are flushed.

I prefer early morning, arriving right around sunrise. Less people between dawn and 10:30am than the last few hours of the evening.

I made it out there this morning at 7:15 a.m.… Burrr! Bone chilling northeast winds but I managed to hang around for about an hour and came up with the “usuals” and a lifer for me a “Great Black-backed Gull” which stuck out from all the rest of the gulls and terns.

After MBSP I headed over to the bird trail [at] Crane Creek and came up with the rest of this list. Not a bad day for me. I had never been that close to peeps before and I was having a ball watching the little guys run around the beach and dodge the waves. The little Sanderlings are so cute!!! Just Adorable! I would have stayed longer but the jeans, t-shirt & two sweatshirts weren’t cuttin’ it! lol

Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper ?
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Common Tern
Caspian Tern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Bald Eagle
Double Crested Cormorant
Northern Cardinal
Mourning Dove
European Starling
Common Grackle
Black Capped Chickadee
Eastern Wood Pewee
Purple Martins
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Bank Swallow
American Goldfinch
Ring Necked Pheasant
Canada Goose
American Robin
Downy Woodpecker
Gray Catbird
House Wren
Eastern Phoebe
Chestnut Sided Warbler
Gray-Cheeked Thrush
Swainson’s Thrush
American Redstart
Warbling Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Northern Waterthrush
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Cape May Warbler
Black & White Warbler
Bay Breasted Warbler
Palm Warbler
Red Winged Blackbird
House Finch
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Harrier
Chipping Sparrow
Rock Dove
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird
Turkey Vulture
House Sparrow