Shorebird Season Winding Down - 28 Aug 2025
Skies were mostly cloudy but calm this morning when I left the house at 7 am. Temperature was 55ºF but winds were calm as I drove to Pt. Mouillee SGA. Sunday is the last day the SGA is open to the public so I'm making the most as I can. My plan was to ride directly to Cell 3 from the Mouillee Creek parking lot, then ride back to check out the Lautenschlager Unit. As I rode the Rad Expand 5 e-Bike along the Middle Causeway I saw Andy Dettling returning from Cell 3. He did not have good news, "All of the shorebirds except for the dowitchers are gone, and the golden plovers just flew off". Bummer. But, I decided I'd check it out and report out if anything returned. He had not seen the Buff-breasted Sandpiper that continued yesterday. I arrived at Cell 3 and hiked out to the mudflats. True to his word the only life seen were the 3-dozen Caspian Terns , couple dozen Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, and a handful of Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitchers . Otherwise th...