Far from being my best shot of the week, our Saturday Morning Birdwalk group enjoyed 2 Stilt Sandpipers at Freeport’s Walsh Preserve. Here’s one of them (pardon the lousy hand-held phone-scoped photo) flanked by Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs for a perfect comparison. Instructional shorebird identification was the name of the game for my tours this week!

Two shorebird-focused tours, plus a few mornings out on beach/mud on my own produced some solid shorebird high counts. My species list and a few high counts would have been added were in not for the rapidly-approaching thunderstorm as my Shorebird Workshop group arrived at Hill’s Beach on the 15^th!  Landbird migration is really picking up as well, with lots of the expected early warblers on the move, including a Cape May Warbler at the Walsh Preserve in Freeport (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group) on the 17^th.

Non-shorebird observations of note this week:

• 28+ continuing Surf Scoters, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 8/12.

• 2 Common Nighthawks (First of fall), over our property in Durham, 8/13.

• 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Pine Point, Scarborough, 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group).

• 6 Surf Scoters, Popham Beach State Park, Phippsburg, 8/16.

Shorebird high counts this week:

• Black-bellied Plover: 91, Wharton Point, Brunswick, 8/12 (with Jeannette).
• Killdeer: 35, Crystal Spring Farm, Brunswick, 8/12 (with Jeannette).
• Semipalmated Plover: ~300, Pine Point, Scarborough, 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group).
• Ruddy Turnstone: 35, Biddeford Pool Beach, Biddeford, 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group).
• STILT SANDPIPER: 2 adults, Walsh Preserve, Freeport, 8/17 (horrible photo above; with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
• Sanderling: 13, Popham Beach State Park, 8/16.
• Least Sandpiper: 20+, Great Pond, Biddeford Pool, 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group).
• White-rumped Sandpiper: 12, Pine Point, 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group).
• Semipalmated Sandpiper: ~1750, Biddeford Pool Beach, 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group). Honorable mention of ~1200 at Pine Point on 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group).
• Short-billed Dowitcher: 8, Popham Beach State Park, 8/16.
• Spotted Sandpiper: 2, multiple locations this week.
• Solitary Sandpiper: 2, Walsh Preserve, 8/17 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
• Lesser Yellowlegs: 54, Walsh Preserve, 8/17 (with Saturday Morning Birdwalk group).
• “Eastern” Willet: 14, Pine Point, 8/15 (with Down East Adventures Shorebird Workshop tour group).
• Greater Yellowlegs: 41, Wharton Point, 8/13 (with Jeannette).

Tours and Events:

The 20^th Anniversary Celebration Month is underway here at the store.  All the details can be found here, including a silent auction for conservation, and several chances to win a new pair of binoculars!