Very few waders on Nanaimo's Holden Creek at low tide this morning, just a scattering of least sandpipers. One group of leasts, that kept getting up from the marsh and flying around contained a considerably bigger bird. Unfortunately, every time they landed on any of the small dried pools among the pickle weed, they in effect, disappeared. I tried for ages to get a view of this distinctly larger calidrid, but to no avail. It was either a pectoral, or Baird's, sandpiper. Probably, the latter.
I realise that pec's a bit bigger, but it's quite hard to judge actual size when its the only larger bird among many smaller individuals. This is especially frustrating, as Baird's sandpiper is, by far, the commonest nearctic shorebird that I've never actually seen. Oh well, such are the delights of birding.
The bog-of-eternal-stench was still hosting the yellowlegs convention, with 7 lessers and the single greater present, plus just 3 least sandpiper. 4 green-winged teal were nearby.
A large influx of some 40-50 cowbirds had taken place, and they were feeding with starlings among the cattle. Otherwise, it was business as usual.
No comments:
Post a Comment