Posted by Paul Bithorn on June 02, 2002 at 15:48:08:
Today, Sunday, June 2, 2002 at 11:00 a.m., John Boyd, Susan Epps, Kathy Hillock, Jill Rosenfield and I spotted a Buff-breasted Sandpiper mixed in with a flying flock of White-rumped Sandpipers in the same field southeast of the Homestead Motorsports Complex where John, et al. saw a Buff-Breasted yesterday. After carefully scoping the flock after they landed, it was determined that there were up to four Buff-breasteds. There are over a hundred White-rumpeds in the area. These two species are listed as (O) Occasional in Miami-Dade County.
The field is located south of SW 328th St. and east of SW 132nd Ave. (which is an un-marked two-track dirt road a 1/2 mile east of SW 137th Ave.The local farm fields were flooded by heavy rains that passed through on Saturday. Drive the dirt roads between the fields for other species of shorebirds as well as HY Kildeers, Red-winged Blackbirds, Boat-tailed Grackles, European Starlings, Eastern Meadowlarks, Cattle Egrets and Common Moorhens. Black-necked Stilts are on the nest. Three Swallow-tailed Kites and four Glossy Ibis flew overhead.
A celebratory libation of Dos Equis Dark was hoisted at Rosita's in Florida City.Life is good.............
knowing that these two rarities are a harbinger of more to come when the shorebird invasion begins in mid-July.