[mou] Agassiz Shorebirds

[Benjamin Fritchman]

This morning I found a wet field at Agassiz NWR that had a good variety of 
shorebirds in it; well at least for late June. There were 9 species with 77 
birds present. The most interesting bird was a lone White-rumped Sandpiper.
The list:
White-rumped Sandpiper-1
Least Sandpiper-7
Dunlin-1
Lesser Yellowlegs-22
Greater Yellowlegs-3
Semipalmated Plover-1

And even the resident shorebirds showed signs of migration at this spot:
Marbled Godwit-8
Killdeer-27
Wilson's Snipe-7
To get to the flooded field: Take CR7 east 6 miles from headquarters, then 
take a right(south) for 1.1 miles and the field is on your left. The field 
is actually just off the refuge property.

Other interesting Agassiz birds this last week:
Short-eared Owl-CR 7 and CR 12 intersection
Whip-poor-will-just off CR 7 near Parker Pool
American Black Duck-A pair has spent the whole summer on South Pool...I 
haven't seen any ducklings yet.
Virginia Rail-2 adults transporting 8 black, golf-ball sized chicks across 
CR 7...took the little guys 5 minutes to get across the road, falling over 
every pebble. The adults were running around them the entire time, corraling 
them and calling like mad. Alarm call sounds like a Black Tern's 
call....best view I'll ever get of Virginia Rails.

Hopefully the shorebirds start showing up in big numbers....I'll keep 
checking the field.
Ben Fritchman
Agassiz NWR for now...