Great Egrets and Shorebirds

Great Egrets and Shorebirds

at Ellacott Lookout

17 August 2013

    Fred Urie and I spent about an hour and a quarter this morning checking  the activity on the Speed River accessible from Ellacott Lookout. It is at this time of year the bird population, especially shorebirds, can change almost by the hour.

View from Ellacott Lookout across the Speed River

     There was a very agreeable range of shorebirds, including a crisp, juvenile Baird's Sandpiper Calidris bairdii and a Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus. Many were quite distant and not amenable to photographs, however. It will help to click on these pictures to view a larger image.

Stilt Sandpiper with Two Solitary Sandpipers

     Most impressive, perhaps, was the sheer number of Great Egrets Ardea alba. We counted eighteen, a new high for both Fred and me at this location.

Seven Great Egrets

Flightless Mallards resting

    Ring-billed Gulls Larus delawarensis and Killdeer Charadrius vociferus were ubiquitous.

    The picture below shows a Great Egret with a Solitary Sandpiper.

    

    

Looking very stately.

        The following picture shows Canada Geese Branta canadensis, Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes, of which there were many, Ring-billed Gulls and if you click to enlarge the picture you will see a Semipalmated Plover Charadrius semipalmatus behind the leftmost Canada Goose.

    

    And to end, a last picture of the star of the day!