[birding] Whimbrels and BB Plovers at Baskett Slough

[Molly Monroe]

While counting geese at Baskett today (down to 12,000 from 17,000 last week), I had the pleasure of watching a group of 8 Black-bellied Plovers and 3 Whimbrels in the next field over. The plovers were in a variety of breeding plumages ranging from two bright white/dark black to the rest being somewhat mottled. The whimbrels were hard to find and more difficult to relocate as they blended so well with the dirt and moved around more than the plovers, but stayed within the vicinity of the group.

They were feeding in the east end of the recently disced field between Cackler Marsh and Hwy 22 (field runs parallel to the hwy). It was disced "heavy" yesterday so I'm guessing there were lots of goodies unearthed for them. I did see the disc move back over there after finishing a different field off of Coville Rd, so I'm guessing they're going to run the disc back over it to break it down better. A good spot to look at this end of the field is a little unofficial pullout off of Hwy 22 next to the large douglas fir patch. There's only room for 2 cars there and be careful pulling on and off the highway as this isn't an expected spot to know to turn. Hopefully, they'll stick around to be seen by others and it might be worth looking closer at the other worked up fields around the refuge to see if they attract any more.

The best part of finding these lovely birds today was being able to share them with (and get confirmation from) a group of ladies participating in the Salem Audubon Birdathon. Hope that's not cheating!!! 

There was at least one Black-necked stilt on Dusky Marsh but this was seen from afar and I didn't get a chance to look any closer for more.

Happy migration,
Molly~

 _
( '<
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//"Endangered species are sensitive indicators of how we are treating the
planet and we should be listening carefully to their message



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