Dear all, with the cold front moving through, Martin and I decided to hit Calaveras and Braunig Lakes this morning, hoping for something like a Sabine's Gull. Unfortunately, almost all of the activity on both lakes were fishermen in boats. We did see Black Terns at both lakes and a Forster's Tern on Calaveras. A young Ring-billed Gull was a bit of a surprise at Braunig Lake; they usually don't come in until October. We decided to run by Mitchell Lake Audubon center, since we were on that side of town. This proved to be much more productive. Basin 3 had two Buff-breasted Sandpipers in the grassy area. We also had Baird's, Least, Western, Stilt and Spotted Sandpipers, Black-necked Stilts, Avocets , Wilson's Phalaropes and a rather surprising 16 Tricolored Herons. We moved on to the main lake, which initially seemed dead. Then Martin spotted a distant flock of Black Terns with a larger white tern in with them. The flock moved in a bit closer and he IDed the larger bird as a Common, which is a tough bird to get in Bexar County. The tern perched on a snag out in the water and we were able to see a strong carpal bar on the wing. We moved down to Basin 5, where a good number of peeps and other sandpipers were working a spit out into the pond. A young Sanderling was the best of the lot, but we also had a Semipalmated Sandpiper and a couple of Semipalmated Plovers. We ended the day with 16 species of shorebirds. Sheridan Coffey San Antonio, Tx http://sngcanary1.blogspot.com/ www.flickr.com/sngcanary