http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27325696
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and the National Park Service to survey for Piping Plovers Friday in
the Upper Laguna Madre. Marc Ealy and I had the section which was the east
shoreline south of Bird Island Basin traveling south to the north end of the
9-mile Hole. From the Sand Bar which extends far into the Laguna Madre just
north of Baffin Bay southward this is 13 miles of wind tidal flats which we
surveyed by airboat.
I posted our observations to eBird which included tens of thousands of
shorebirds which covered several miles of shoreline. Beau Hardegree with the
USFWS in his section along the western shoreline also had miles of large
shorebird flocks.
The wind tidal flats of the Laguna Madre is a special place with Hemispheric
conservation value. They support some of the largest concentrations of bird
life in Texas which includes about 1/2 of the world population of Reddish
Egrets and on this day at least 100,000 shorebirds observed by the 2 boat
crews. [Marc Ealy and I on another survey a decade ago near the same location
saw dense flocks of peeps being herded by falcons which numbered about 300,000
and rafts of waterfowl exceeding 50,000.] Impressive numbers of other
shorebirds like Piping Plover, Snowy Plover, Black-bellied Plover, Willet,
Greater Yellowlegs, Dunlin, Western Sandpiper, and Least Sandpiper were
observed on Friday. Five years ago, Marc and I had over 700 Snowy Plovers on
this same route. Two CBC seasons ago, I had over 300 Piping Plovers at one
site.
Enough for numbers, the wind tidal flats are a unique area which provides
expansive habitats of high value. I have included within my eBird report
scenic views of large flocks foraging over this valuable landscape. Hope you
enjoy them.
Brent OrtegoTexas Parks and Wildlife DepartmentVictoria, Texas
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