I'm biased because of where I work (New River). I was going to write and say that 25 Whimbrel is not necessarily a big flock on the beach (sorry Daniel). I was going to mention that we've been seeing fairly large numbers of Whimbrels in the last week, and that it appears to me that Whimbrels are actually later migrants than most of the peeps and dowitchers. We normally see pretty good size flocks on the beach at New River, 25 or more is not all that uncommon there. In the past few days we've had some flocks of 40 or more over the beach and heading north. But I guess it is all where you are at, and as Tim points out, we are working right across the river from the ranches with the huge flocks of Whimbrels and well, I guess we should expect that we are seeing larger numbers than Daniel would where he works.
There did seem to be large numbers of SANDERLING around today and the past few days.
Also on Saturday 18 May at New River we had a dead PARAKEET AUKLET on the beach.
Cheers Dave Lauten On 5/20/2013 3:25 PM, Tim Rodenkirk wrote:
Daniel et. al,,Not sure if many folks out there have seen the huge Whimbrel flocks in the ranch lands around cape Blanco and vicinity? Coastal mudflat and beach Whimbrel flocks are normally small as Daniel mentioned, if you want to see BIG flocks check the ranch fields in the New River bottomlands of Coos/Curry or up Bethel or Langlois Mtns during mid-May. Numbers have been low this year but flocks of over 1,000 are not uncommon with 3,000 being the largest flock I remember being reported around mid-May which is the peak of their migration (about now). Viewing huge concentrations one can often observe smaller flocks of 50 or 100 rise up, circle around, and land elsewhere in the ranch fields. These birds often call a lot too- when several hundred Whimbrel all call at the same time it is pretty impressive. Numbers way down this year last time I checked though, my peak number up Bethel was 125 this year but I only have been up there once this month.Merry migration! Tim R Coos Bay *From:* Daniel Farrar <jdanielfarrar@xxxxxxxxx> *To:* OBOL <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> *Sent:* Monday, May 20, 2013 2:47 PM *Subject:* [obol] Red Knot 6-pack, other Coos shorebirdsIt has been pretty quite for shorebirds since the spectacle earlier in the month. Today's highlights from the beach in extreme north Coos county included 6 RED KNOTS. Largest group I have seen this season. Seems to be a good year for Red Knots. I usually average just a handful a year, but they seem fairly regular this spring. Also close by were 25 WHIMBREL. Odd to see that many on the beach together. Those largish groups are usually flybys or in bays. Also 300-500 SANDERLINGS in scattered large flocks. At least 1 SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, a few DUNLIN and WESTERN SANDPIPERS. Sanderlings are great fun to watch this time of year. Their breeding plumage is just awesome and makes me dream of stints and other fun shorebirds.Daniel Farrar Dunes City, Oregon jdanielfarrar@xxxxxxxxx <http://gmail.com/>
