I saw my fourth South Carolina RUFF of 2009 this past weekend - on both Saturday and Sunday while doing ISS surveys and other shorebird field work in mid-coastal South Carolina. I have been averaging 3 Ruff sightings per year in coastal SC since 2006 (2 in 2006, 3 in 2007, 3 in 2008, now 4 in 2009).
It is becoming obvious that northbound spring Ruff are stopping at managed wetlands in coastal South Carolina more and more in the past few years (perhaps to the detriment of Delaware and New Jersey, to hear friends up there talk about it).
Chris Snook also saw this weekend's bird (a Reeve) on Saturday and confirmed the
I.D. Chris has more experience with Ruff than most people in North
America, since he is a British birder who has also banded them at a
major wintering site in Senegal, Africa.
I got a slightly better look at the Reeve again on Sunday, while surveying some impoundments when Chris was working at a different location. I know this is not the Ruff our group found 2 weeks before in the same general area, since the previous bird was a male with the beginnings of a black bib.
We saw 29 shorebird species over two days this past weekend; 28 species on Sunday and 27 (including a Baird's Sandpiper) on Saturday.
Peep numbers exploded over the past week; Semipalmated Sandpipers are right on schedule - but Western Sandpiper numbers seem VERY abnormally low this spring along the SC Coast. There are still surprisingly large numbers of Short-billed Dowitchers present - we saw thousands both days and 2200+ in a single impoundment Sunday!
Dunlin numbers are still high - we saw thousands for the weekend and many hundreds in several impoundments. I think our high count for Dunlin in a single impoundment was a bit over 1200. Semipalmated Sandpiper numbers remained high and continued to increase - thousands observed both days. After a drop in numbers the weekend before, Stilt Sandpipers put on a good show - we had several dozen again this past weekend. We also had thousands of Semipalmated Plovers each day.
The Baird's Sandpiper was striking and in full alternate plumage - we noted the bird's larger size compared to nearby "peeps", silvery-gray back with black spots, the subtle supercilium, wingtips extending past the tip of the tail (flapping in the breeze at times), the "long and slim" appearance of the bird, and the short + ever-so-slightly drooped bill. It helped that a White-rumped Sandpiper was foraging near the Baird's - this allowed for pretty direct comparison.
We also had 3, possibly 4 American Golden-Plovers Sunday (need to go over some photos to be sure).
We also noted some "beach birds" slightly inland in drained waterfowl impoundments (former ricefields) - Red Knot, Ruddy Turnstone and Wilson's Plovers.
The only rare bird Chris missed seeing was a Gray Kingbird I blundered into Sunday while driving from the beach to the cabin to get our lunch and some insect balm (microbrew beer) for use in the late afternoon.
Lest the weekend's rarities seem like a completely wonderful experience, we had to contend with plenty of serious biting insects - sand gnats, mosquitoes, deer flies (hordes), horse flies (quite a few) and Cow Flies (not a lot, but they are HUGE). It is one thing to endure them for a few minutes on the way to/from the car - another thing entirely to endure them for hours on end while walking long distances, counting shorebirds, taking photos + video, and so forth.
We paid in blood for our shorebirds!
Shorebird species list for the weekend:
--------------------------------
Black-bellied Plover
AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER
Wilson's Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Whimbrel
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
BAIRD'S SANDPIPER
Pectoral Sandpiper
Dunlin
Stilt Sandpiper
RUFF
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Nathan Dias - Charleston, SC
|
