Greetings Shorebirders!

This is an inaugural post - I am very excited to say that we have already had 125+ people sign up in the first 24 hours, from many different states all across the U.S.  I hope that this group will provide a forum for lots of sightings, discussion and learning about these fascinating birds.

Perhaps as a way to start off the posts (though certainly not the only reason for the formation of this list), I will toss out an unofficial challenge, just to learn what is being seen across the nation right now.  Last year in mid August, close to the height of shorebird migration, we did a Shorebird Big Day, hitting as many productive stopover points along Florida's east coast as could be fit into one day.  We started at Ponce Inlet, south of Daytona Beach, then Canaveral National Seashore, Viera Wetlands west of Cocoa Beach, and then finished at King Ranch sod fields at South Bay, on the south shore of Lake Okeechobee, in western Palm Beach County.  The total for the day was 22 species of shorebirds, but we missed several possible species.

Next week we are planning on doing this trip again, but dropping off Canaveral Seashore and adding Merritt Island NWR, a great spot that provides several different habitats that hold shorebirds all year.  Hopefully they will get the Space Shuttle off and open MINWR up soon; we will wait until it opens to run the route.

Species seen last year:

American Oystercatcher
Black-necked Stilt
Semipalmated Plover
Wilsons Plover
Killdeer
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden Plover
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
Willet
Upland Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Pectoral Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Sanderling
Red Knot
Western Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Short-billed Dowitcher

What are you seeing in your area?

Thanks to everyone, and good shorebirding!

Bob Wallace
Alachua and New Smyrna Beach, FL
Listowner