August 20, 2005
East coast shorebirds
After having fun with the eastern seaboard passerine migration, I turned my attention to shorebirds. A quick visit to the Amherstview sewage pond (near Kingston) produced a small group of maybe 30 shorebirds, amongst which were 2 Baird's Sandpipers...
... and this, my lifer Stilt Sandpiper at last!
After Canada, I decided to return to the UK for a week (well, I was practically halfway home), which left me with a 6.5 hour stopover in JFK airport, NY, so naturally I went birding! Jamaica Bay is a shorebird magnet only one subway and a short walk away from the airport, affording a nice view of the New York City skyline.
This scrappy-looking Boat-tailed Grackle turned out to be my 550th ABA area bird!
As hoped, the East Pond was teeming with shorebirds. I got very close looks at the hordes of Semipalmated Sandpipers...
... and Lesser Yellowlegs.
Best of all were a couple of White-rumped Sandpipers - a long overdue lifer for me.
Big John's Pond was worth a look, producing a (literally) Solitary Sandpiper amongst the dowitchers and yellowlegs.
A walk around the West Pond yielded a nice selection of eastern species (Glossy Ibis, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Black Duck and a dust-bathing Brown Thrasher), plus my first of year Common Terns.
