August 26th, 2005. East Meadows, Northampton, MA.
| Baird’s Sandpiper Calidris bairdii. (4 juveniles).
| This
evening I dropped down to the East Meadows for an attempted watch for
nighthawks. I left the house early enough to check for some Baird’s Sandpipers found the previous day by Chris Gentes. When I arrived, Chris
was already there watching the Baird’s in perfect afternoon sunlight, and not
just one bird, but a party of four juveniles! The birds were close and
showed extremely well. It was the largest ‘flock’ of Baird’s Sandpipers
that I’ve seen in New England by a long way, and I can only recall
seeing a flock larger than this in Texas in spring.
I then settled down for some nighthawk migration, but numbers were thin
this evening. However things started looking up when I watched two American Golden Plovers fly in from the north and eventually settle down in the field in front of me. They were both beautiful transitional adults.
Baird’s Sandpipers and American Golden Plovers just fifteen minutes from our house in Amherst, and a Blackburnian Warbler in the yard this morning - Absolutely fantastic!
| | Taken using Canon Powershot A-95 through Swarovski HD telescope . |
|
