Today (Sunday, August 7, 2016) my wife (Birgit) and I twice birded the
Weaver Road sod fields in Cameron County. Here I will list the highlights
separately for our morning and afternoon visits. For general information,
the stretch of sod fields along Weaver Road, including the dog-leg portion
was measured at 1.1 miles.
WEAVER ROAD SOD FIELDS (10:41 AM â 11:40 AM) â birding all the sod fields
visible from Weaver Road (between FM-800 and Jimenez Rd.): Shorebirds were
: KILLDEER (58); GREATER YELLOWLEGS (3); LONG-BILLED CURLEW (1); LEAST
SANDPIPER (4); PECTORAL SANDPIPER (43); Others: HORNED LARK (30 est.,
possibly quite conservative); and EASTERN MEADOWLARK (3, species judgment
simply on probability due to location and date). We had birded these sod
fields from south to north, and along Jimenez Road about ¼ mile east of
Weaver Road we saw in flight one BELTED KINGFISHER (male).
WEAVER ROAD SOD FIELDS (2:21 PM â 3:11 PM) â again, birding the sod fields
from south to north: First, the shorebirds: KILLDEER (19); LONG-BILLED
CURLEW (1, possibly a different individual than on our morning visit, as
the bill seemed notably less curved); PECTORAL SANDPIPER (5); and
BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER (8). In the northwest-most sod field a group of
TURKEY VULTURES (8) was present.
Clearly, some of the shorebird species that had been present in the morning
had moved on, but the newcomer species (and our personal first-of-season),
Buff-breasted Sandpiper, was a very special treat. These individuals were
decidedly handsome, bearing very dark top-side breeding-plumage feathers
still crisply pale bordered. They looked all the more spiffy foraging
amidst the richly green grass.
Wishing everyone the best of fall-migration birding,
Rex Stanford (Weslaco).
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