Whimbrel flight! - 25 May 2015


I made it out to Pt. Mouillee SGA this morning after a month-long hiatus. I parked at Siegler Rd. and saw Scott Terry and Adam Byrne there. I biked the north causeway toward the Long Pond while they drove separately to do their point counts. We stopped along the Nelson Unit when a large flock of Whimbrel appeared to the east and passed overhead to the north. 130 birds!







We would see another 3 flocks totaling another 200+ birds in the next 30 minutes or so while we looked for the Black-necked Stilts that had been observed in days past. Scott found a pair of male birds, but they were far out in the marsh.

I caught up with them at Cell 3 and scoped hundreds of Dunlin, 81 Ruddy Turnstones, and several White-rumped Sandpipers among dozens of Semipalmated Sandpipers and Least Sandpipers. I managed some flight shots of the Ruddy Turnstones (left) as they flushed and flew by. Only a single Whimbrel was seen among the shorebirds - I got a long-distance digiscoped image for record.


Dunlin

Scott and Adam would find 4 Little Gulls among the Bonaparte's Gulls, but I didn't stick around long enough to see them. Instead, I headed back toward the North Causeway and found a pair of Black-necked Stilts close enough to digiscope before they flew off farther into the Long Pond. The one on the right appears to be a female (male on left w/ blacker back).




Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 15), Monroe, Michigan, US
May 25, 2015 7:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
11.0 mile(s)
8 species

Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)  2     Cell 3. Found by Scott Terry and Adam Byrne. Digiscoped images. Continuing.
Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)  330
Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)  81     Exact count of large flock moving among hundred+ Dunlin.
Dunlin (Calidris alpina)  120
White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis)  4
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)  8     Cell 3. Exact count
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)  28
Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia)  5

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S162169032

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

I would head back to the car and drive by Haggerman Rd. to look for Bobolinks before heading home by 10 am.

Antenna Farm, Monroe, Michigan, US
May 25, 2015 10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
1 species

Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus)  3

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S162169316

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)