Great Shorebirding Continues

The irresistible lure of the wastewater plant drew Darlene and me back to Benson this morning. Shorebird numbers had dropped somewhat since yesterday morning; there were fewer than 200 birds on the second pond, most of them Wilson’s Phalaropes. And peep numbers had fallen greatly, with just a few dozen Western and Least Sandpipers still present.

But wait…. A juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper was an excellent surprise, and it stayed in sight most of the time we were there, even letting us show it to Dick and Bill when they arrived fresh from a visit to Willcox. This is one of those species that has probably always been a low-density passage bird in Arizona, but is reported more often now that birders look for it and know how to identify it.

Among the first birds we saw was a juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher, also, like Semipalmated Sandpiper, a scarce but under-identified fall migrant in southeast Arizona. It was great fun to watch this one as it fed and preened. Several times we got to see it open just the tip of its bill, flexing the upper mandible up to create a tiny pincer to grab a fly or smooth a ruffled feather. Still a mystery to me how they do that!