FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Baird's Sandpiper still present at Leonard's Pond

[JMIrvine@xxxxxxx]

After the rush of birders over the Labor Day weekend, it was probably fairly 
quiet at the pond today.  I didn't get down there until about 6 p.m. after a 
heavy rainstorm had passed.  Nobody else was there, but the shorebirds were 
still present in good variety.  The American Golden-Plover (Ned Brinkley looked 
at Brenda Tekin's photographs and said it looked like an American Golden-Plover 
to him) was not in evidence but that doesn't mean it isn't still around, as 
it has seldom been seen late in the afternoon.  The Baird's Sandpiper was still 
present but was ranging more widely around the pond, even flying across to 
the other side on one occasion.  This is the seventh day in a row it has been 
there.  Since it's headed to southern South America for the winter, it's 
storing 
up fat reserves for its long flights, and by staying here this long it 
testifies to the abundance of food it's finding in the margin of Leonard's Pond.
Present on the pond this evening were:

Mallard 4 female
Northern Shoveler 1 female
Blue-winged Teal 3 female
Killdeer 3
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Solitary Sandpiper 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 3
Baird's Sandpiper 1
Pectoral Sandpiper 1 

John Irvine
Harrisonburg, VA


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