[texbirds] massed Western Sandpipers (09/14/14) on rain-flooded flats off TX-4 near Boca Chica

From: "Rex Stanford" <calidris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "TEXBIRDS" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 21:39:40 -0500
Yesterday (September 14, 2014), intrigued by what might have been the 
consequences for shorebirds and waders of the very recent substantial rains 
in south Texas and despite skies that often were threatening but actually 
were rainy only occasionally, we visited several locales from McAllen to 
Boca Chica Beach. We realized that the bad weather, both here and north of 
here, might have put a damper-pun intended-on southbound migration, we 
wanted, anyhow, to see what was and was not out there. Because there was 
substantial standing water and even flooding in many spots not traditionally 
attractive to birders, we made use of every opportunity to inspect flooded 
areas for whatever birds--duck, waders, and/or shorebirds--had found those 
spots useful.

The overall result was that yesterday was minimally productive of birds in 
such locales. We visited many of the sites we visit on our shorebird runs, 
but the results generally were very poor. As a last hope for something 
interesting we drove TX-4 from Brownsville to the Boca Chica beach, and it 
was along that highway that we came upon a very striking occurrence of 
WESTERN SANDPIPER, by far the largest aggregation of that species that we 
personally had experienced, and that species was the only shorebird of any 
genus present at that location. Here are some details.

As one travels east on TX-4, shortly before one reaches the westernmost end 
of the long (and, often, somewhat ephemeral) bay on the south side of TX-4 
that signals the approach to Boca Chica Beach, one sees on one's right 
(i.e., to the south) an unpaved road with a large house and several tall 
palms immediately to west of it. (This is the unpaved road east of which, 
near TX-4, birders from the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival a couple of 
years ago saw a Fork-tailed Flycatcher.) Yesterday, almost immediately after 
passing that side road, we noticed, south of TX-4 and adjacent to it, a very 
large rain-flooded area. It was covered with many dozens of small calidris 
sandpipers, so we immediately pulled to the side of the road to study them. 
They waded, often up to or very near their bellies, in the substantial 
rainwater, looking very erect and elegant with their largely medium-gray 
topsides, pure white undersides, and black legs, handsome birds who poked 
their long, evenly tapered, slightly droop-tipped, bills deeply into the 
water, sometimes submerging their heads up to above the eyes. Of those 
blackish legs often only the upper tibiae were visible above the water, and 
sometimes their bare parts were entirely beneath the water. These handsomely 
birds had nicely tapered bodies fronted by a substantially "chesty" front 
end, creating a strikingly athletic look, in the most appreciative sense of 
that word. Their black, evenly tapered and strikingly long bills brought an 
air of elegance to these refined, clean-looking birds.

Here were dozens and dozens of Western Sandpipers, often with neatly 
scalloped scapulars and wing coverts, and due to their numbers they easily 
could be viewed, simultaneously, from virtually from every angle and in 
every posture normal to them. Very important, these were not static 
photo-type images, but living, moving reality, the kind of dynamic scene 
that a lover of shorebirds deeply appreciates, one that lets the mind steep 
in the rich, full, behavioral panoply of the species' reality. What is more, 
species identification is far less likely to fail when the mind has been 
steeped in such a scenario. For us, it was a delectable treat, and we only 
wished that other birders could have been present to enjoy with us this 
richly informative scenario. We estimated roughly 120-140 of this species 
when we stopped in this area to study them as we headed east; on our 
westbound return, late in the afternoon, some of the group evidently had 
moved on-some of the species now were seen on the north side of the road in 
South Bay. Nonetheless, a single wide-angle photo of some of those on the 
south side disclosed 43 individuals, but did not cover quite a few who 
remained outside the camera's reach.

We recognized on site that the bills of these Western Sandpipers were long 
bills, even for this species, and that this group of them, on account of 
those long bills, arguably might have been composed largely, if not 
entirely, of females. Western Sandpiper females leave the breeding grounds 
prior to the males (and, hence, travel separately), and females of that 
species tend to winter farther south than the males (authoritative reference 
citations available on request).

Further east along TX-4, before reaching the gulf-side beach, we spotted and 
identified on the south-side beach only SEMIPALMATED PLOVER (1) and GREATER 
YELLOWLEGS (1). While parked at the entrance to Boca Chica Beach and viewing 
the beach we additionally found PIPING PLOVER (1, an attractive, topside 
very-light-gray ghost, very aggressive in driving away intruders and 
sometimes so speedy it could be hard to track), RUDDY TURNSTONE (1), and 
SANDERLING (several). We had found far more individual shorebirds and 
species along TX-4 on a visit only a week before.

In sum, we hit upon a superb day for Western Sandpipers, but a very poor day 
for shorebirds in general. We completed the day, though, elated at having 
seen by far the largest aggregation of this particular species that we ever 
had seen, all in one location and without other species anywhere around. 
These individuals were attractive and, as mentioned earlier, often had neat 
fringes on the topside feathers. Possibly they were juveniles, but seeing 
(and photographing) any rufous scapular color that might have been on these 
individuals (as on fresh juveniles of this species) was made problematic 
yesterday, thanks to a very overcast sky.

Wishing everyone the best of birding,
Rex and Birgit Stanford

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[texbirds] massed Western Sandpipers (09/14/14) on rain-flooded flats off TX-4 near Boca Chica

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