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Posted by Bryant on 20:44:03 07/21/12
The usual migrant shorebirds are starting to show up in the farmlands south and east of Belle Glade. Today there were two Upland Sandpipers in the King Ranch Sod Fields east of US 27 at the usual spot east of the banana trees. I found a very early one on 7/8 a little to the north. The most productive flooded field was on the west side of Gladeview Road about a mile south of CR 880. There I found Gull-billed, Least, and Black Terns along with Least, Western, Semipalmated, Stilt, Pectoral, and Solitary Sandpipers, plenty of Lesser Yellowlegs, along with about 35 Roseate Spoonbills, a few Fulvous and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and the usual wading birds and breeding shorebirds. There were a few Dowitchers most of which looked like Short-billed but I got close looks and some photos of one that looked and sounded like a Long-billed. Early Dowitchers are almost always Short-billed and the hendersoni race of Short-billed Dowitcher can be as rusty underneath as a Long-billed so I am always skeptical of reports of Long-billed in July and early August and would not have reported this one if its call wasn t typical of a Long-billed.
Brown s Farm Road is usually good for swallows in the late summer and today it did not disappoint. On the dirt roads south of the microwave tower I found a flock of about 300 Bank Swallows along with a few each of Barn, Cliff, and Tree Swallows along with a few Purple Martins. On 7/8 there were already a couple of early Tree Swallows in the same area along with a Cliff Swallow.
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