Towheeblog

CORRECTION…OUR UNUSUAL SHOREBIRD WAS NOT A PECT…IT’S A SOLITARY. THE DARK ON THE BREAST IS TOO SOLID TO BE A PECTORAL.
August 18 This morning Paul Sullivan and I birded some of the watery spots in south Yamhill County. First stop was Sheridan Sewer Ponds where we had seven species of ducks and six of shorebirds. But the best find of the day was along Patty Lane where it crosses Ash Swale, south of Amity. Looking out the car window there was a single shorebird feeding on the bare mud along the creek. First, we noticed the speckled back…then Paul pointed out the bright white eye-ring. It was a Pectoral Sandpiper, WE THOUGHT. STUDYING IT LATER AFTER SUGGESTION FROM MY FRIEND, DICK ASHFORD…SOLITARY SANDPIPER. My first of the fall. A scarce if regular migrant through Yamhill after the breeding season. “Pects”—as we lovingly call them–breed along the edge of the North Sea and in Siberia.
SHERIDAN SEWER PONDS
The waterfowl and shorebirds are beginning to collect at this spot popular with both groups as well as some scent-impaired birders.
Red-necked Phalarope, a pair was far out in the pond with terrible back lighting.
There was a small flock of peeps, a majority were Western Sandpipers:Preening, if you;d been eating what they were eating you’d wanna clean your feathers, too. But that beak has been places…Twopipers: Western on left and at rear, Least to the right:
The Brewer’s Blackbirds were legion, and busy and everywhere we looked, but we tried to concentrate on the quartet of handsome Lesser Yellowlegs:Yeah, Killdeer. They, too, were all along the shoreline.As I said, the blackbirds were all around…here you see a scattered, chaotic flock in the sky. A few Violet-green Swallows in that swirl no doubt. The swallows were the only species more numerous than Mallards or coots.
SWALLOWS ABOUNDIN’ There were a few Barn, and here you see two of the Cliffs, but mostly it was Violet-green and predominantly first year birds.VG on right, Cliffies to the left.
WATERFOWLAbove, taking off in background: Shoveler. Below, Pintail near Canada Geese.
Bonus bird: Black Phoebe, looked like a youngster: