On this cool, rainy morning, 18 Avids took to the soggy roads in search of migrant shorebirds. Our first stop, however, didn’t involve a search for these mudflat denizens. We were in search of the sing-only-between-6:30-and-7:00 AM Sedge Wrens at Killdeer Plains. Despite warnings from a couple of people in the group who had failed to locate the wrens during previous searches at all times during the day (except between 6:30 and 7:00 AM), we headed up to CH-115 at Killdeer. The rain had subsided somewhat and it was now only a damp sprinkle. The group was instanly gratified by at least three singing Sedge Wrens and all got decent looks at these skulkers. This species was a lifer for at least three people in the group. Thank goodness the birds didn’t fail us. I think I would have been flogged.
Following our success with the wrens, we headed northward to Sheldon Marsh in hopes of shorebird rewards. We weren’t disappointed. The wind had pushed water into the basin and the shorebirds (hundreds of them) were forced to within easy viewing distance of the observation decks. Unfortunately, the birds were a bit skittish and would fly around quite often. That didn’t stop Bill Whan from spotting a juvenile RUFF though. The down side of this is that only one other person in the group got to see it before all the birds in that group got up and flew around. The RUFF was never seen again, much to the disappointment of many in our party (myself included). The rest of the shorebirds consisted of pretty standard fare, but in good numbers.
We then trekked over to Medusa Marsh where we found that the recent rains hadn’t recharged the mudflats there. It was much drier than it was on Wednesday and there were fewer birds. The American Golden-Plover we found on Wednesday was still present though (another lifer for a member of the group).
Ottawa NWR provided good exercise for all as we trekked back to the northwest area. Unfortunately, there weren’t many birds to be seen. There were good numbers of three tern species and hundreds of swallows wheeling about.
We decided our time would be better well spent back at Sheldon Marsh so we retraced our steps to what we thought was going to be a nice afternoon of shorebird spotting. Much to our dismay, the winds had taken over and forced too much water into the basin area thereby removing the shorebirds from this once-prime location. It’s hard to believe it could fill up that fast, but it did. In a desperate attempt to locate the hundreds of shorebirds that were present there in the morning, we decided to check out the Huron River mudflats. This turned out to be a futile attempt because we only found about 10 shorebird individuals at this location.
Realizing we had been defeated, we toured the nearby DuPont Marsh to investigate a location none of us had ever been to. It was a nice area and looked like a good location to visit during passerine migration. We decided to call it a day and we all headed back home.
Total Species: 77
A = Killdeer Plains WA
B = Sheldon Marsh
C = Medusa Marsh
D = Ottawa NWR & Magee Marsh (MM)
E = Huron River/DuPont Marsh
R = Seen en route to that location
