Rockwood Landfill Shorebirds! - 13 Sep 2004

13 September 2004 Rockwood Landfill, Monroe

1500 Hrs.  Following up on a posting from earlier, I headed down to the Rockwood Landfill located at US-Turnpike and Roberts Rd.  Someone had mentioned that a number of shorebirds were using the ponds just off the highway, and since Pt. Mouillee was now closed to birding I decided to check it out.  

After first clearing it with the manager of the Landfill I drove in just off Roberts Rd. and parked close to the ponds.  Sure enough, there were numerous Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, Kildeer, and lots of blackbirds (Cowbirds mostly).

With the sun starting to fade in the west I quickly started digiscoping as fast as I could.  And finally, I am able to get my first decent images of Pectoral Sandpipers.  I was also able to get many nice images of Least Sandpipers in both fresh (juvenile?) and fall (adult) plumage.  I shot my whole card and didn’t leave till I was out of memory…

At 4:30pm this afternoon there were still (16) Golden Plovers in the field just southwest of Rockwood Landfill on US Turnpike. Among them were several Kildeer and (1) Horned Lark. 

I also checked out the ponds at US Turnpike and Roberts Road for shorebirds. The following yellow-legged shorebirds were observed: 
(6) Pectoral Sandpipers 
(6-9) Lesser Yellowlegs 
(4-5) Greater Yellowlegs 
(several) Lesser Yellowlegs 
(several) Killdeer 
(no) dark-legged peeps.... 

I spoke w/ Norm Folsom, Site Manager at the Rockwood Landfill, and he was gracious enough to permit me to wander about the ponds to look at the birds. He welcomes birders but asks that  we contact him prior to entering anywhere on Landfill property. His office number is 734-379-0774. He's also genuinely interested in knowing whether the ponds are generating good birds since its good PR for them if they can create productive habitat for local/passing fauna....Please be courteous. 

Gibraltar Landfill, Monroe, Michigan, US
Sep 13, 2004 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
0.2 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Following up on a posting from earlier, I headed down to the Rockwood Landfill located at US-Turnpike and Roberts Rd.  Someone had mentioned that a number of shorebirds were using the ponds just off the highway, and since Pt. Mouillee was now closed to birding I decided to check it out.  After first clearing it with the manager of the Landfill I drove in just off Roberts Rd. and parked close to the ponds.
7 species

American Golden-Plover (Pluvialis dominica)  16     Continuing in field across the street (US Turnpike)
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)  4
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)  9
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)  5
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)  4
Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)  6
Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S183585747

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