Shorebirds are on the move
- Bruce Glick: Gone Birding
- July 18, 2018
- 1610
Shorebird reports have been coming in from Ohio and Indiana. I checked the Northern Indiana shorebird data to see when to expect the different species that come our way. As you probably know, the southbound shorebird migration starts very early, about the same time that the last northbound birds are reported.
By mid to late June, small numbers of shorebirds are expected, but it isn’t until mid-July that the shorebird migration picks up.
The shorebird chart shows Wilson’s phalarope, willet and marbled godwit arriving around the beginning of July with lesser yellowlegs, solitary sandpiper, whimbrel, short-billed dowitcher and least sandpiper showing up by the middle of the month.
Soon after that come stilt sandpiper, western sandpiper, piping plover, greater yellowlegs, pectoral sandpiper and semipalmated sandpiper. As August arrives, we expect to see semipalmated plover, Baird’s sandpiper, buff-breasted sandpiper, spotted sandpiper, and both black-bellied and American golden plovers. Of course early arrivals of all these species are not unusual.
Long-billed dowitchers usually don’t show up until September when many shorebird numbers have already peaked, although late dates for most species range from September until November and even into December.
This year there have been the normal early reports in June, and by July, shorebird arrivals were picking up. American avocets showed up on July 7 at Buck Creek (Ohio), followed by at least four separate sightings on the 15th and 16th. There were 32 avocets along Lake Erie at Conneaut on the 15th. A single avocet was at Michigan City, Indiana on the 14th, along with 10 sanderlings and four willets.
Speaking of willets, Ken Brock photographed a flock of 87 willets leaving the break-wall at Michigan City on July 5. At the same time there were four marbled godwits and two short-billed dowitchers on the same break-wall.
An early piping plover (banded) was photographed on July 13 along Lake Michigan, just north of the Indiana/Michigan border. Several stilt sandpipers have shown up, one at Conneaut on July 15 and another on the 16th at Wendy Park in Cleveland. A lone white-rumped sandpiper was located at Howard Marsh on the 16th.
The black-necked stilts that nested at Mercer Wildlife Area evidently have a second round of young birds. Four adults and three young were photographed there on the 14th. One black-necked stilt also was reported from Howard Marsh.
Other interesting reports include a tri-colored heron at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge on the 15th and four western kingbirds in Indiana, where they evidently have nested this year.
We should continue to see lots of shorebirds in the coming weeks.
Good birding!
Reach Bruce Glick at birderbruce@yahoo.com or 330-317-7798.