The pipit might be conserving energy and hiding in furrows or dips in the mud. Although a raptor had flushed the flock just before we arrived on Thursday, 2 of us watched that same spot of mud near the pavement. We saw Yellow rumps land on the mud island and watched for perhaps 30 to 40 minutes scanning around for the pipit. But then we noticed that the pipit was visible after a time and none of us, 3 birders by now, had seen it fly into that area. During the one hour that we observed the bird after that, it didn't move beyond a 8 to 10 foot square area. Or smaller. Another pipit arrived, a Killdeer was around, but the bird kept apart, was quite sedentary, perhaps due to the disability with the foot/ankle. Appears to have a "foot drop" . Because it is so sedentary, some other birders arriving looked in our scopes to see the bird but had trouble finding it themselves to get it into their scopes. It was so still for periods of time, then finally bobbing and feeding within very defined areas. This was all on a small island near the pavement. Just something to consider. Go get it Tom Love! Judy, jmeredit@xxxxxxxxxxx
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