Trip Report by Thomas Plath

Wow! What a great morning birding. The nine participants of this field trip would likely agree. It was a 9AM start at Reifel Sanctuary taking advantage of the morning high tide. The question was: would there be Peregrine’s about flushing the shorebirds out of the sanctuary?

The house pond was empty. Not a good sign. Walking towards the southwest marsh a dark falcon flashed by that may have been a Merlin. The one-second look was too fast to confirm ID. More bad news as the southwest marsh held very few shorebirds. 

Comparisons were made between Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs standing together on a log, decent looks of Marsh Wren and Common Yellowthroat were had, and Northern Pintail and Shoveler in fall plumage were viewed through the scope. So far the only shorebirds were a few yellowlegs and some calling Long-billed Dowitchers. 

We arrived at the west pond with some large flocks of dowitchers on the far side. Excellent, Peregrines hadn’t displaced the flock. A thorough scan of the approximately 250 Long-billed Dowitchers revealed more Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and a Wilson’s Phalarope, easily spotted by its energetic “jitter bug” style of feeding. Close to the shorebirds a pair of Cinnamon Teal were busy “surface skimming” unfortunately too far to see plumage details. Continuing down the west dyke a Willow Flycatcher accompanied by a couple of Yellow Warblers were briefly seen in a cherry tree, a Peregrine Falcon flew over and a Solitary Sandpiper was flushed but not relocated. The tower pond held more shorebirds including three juvenile Stilt Sandpipers; a very scarce fall migrant. Prominent supercilium, droop to bill and buffy coloration helped identify this species from the adjacent feeding Lesser Yellowlegs. Two Belted Kingfishers flashed by raucously calling and a scan of the west marsh provided more surprises. Steve Partington picked out five American White Pelicans flying northbound along the water’s edge and an American Kestrel hovered over the outer marsh. Pelicans during July – August in our area are a recent phenomenon, with groups of non-breeding birds summering off of Brunswick Point and Sturgeon Banks the last decade.

Satisfied with the shorebirds we headed towards the display ponds briefly stopping to scope a 2^nd year male Purple Martin singing on one of the colony boxes. The group enjoyed the Sandhill Crane pair attending two colts, a rare event, with most breeding attempts failing or sometimes with one young. A drake Eurasian Wigeon still in alternate plumage was and quite tame was another pleasant surprise. This bird was unusually early with most birds arriving weeks later.

Favorable weather, good companions and lots of nice avian surprises made for an excellent morning birding.