Today I visited Craney Island in Portsmouth to look at shorebirds. I
had a great day and tallied 19 species of shorebirds and 4 species of
terns. Best bird of the day was a juvenile BAIRD'S SANDPIPER. I found
the bird while walking along the south dike just after the entrance.
The bird was located on a drier section of mud flat to the right of
where the mud flat meets the water. The bird was larger than the
surrounding SEMIPALMATED and LEAST SANDPIPERS and had very long wings
that extended beyond the tail with the wing tips criss-crossing one
another. The face and breast was very buffy and the flanks and belly
clean white. Also there today were 2 WILSON'S PHALAROPES. I found them
swimming around in the water at the northwest end. Other highlights
included 17 AMERICAN AVOCETS, at least 15 BLACK-NECKED STILTS, a WESTERN
SANDPIPER and a number of STILT SANDPIPERS. There were a lot of birds
there and I spent the whole day looking around despite the heat. Below
is my list of shorebirds and terns for the day. Good birding.
Adam D'Onofrio
Dinwiddie Co.
CRANEY ISLAND 8/12/05
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Semipalmated Plover
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Pectoral Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Phalarope
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Least Tern
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