Saturday, September 10, 2011

September 10 - Orange County "Black Dirt Region"

Today I traveled north to the farm fields of Orange County in search of shorebirds. This area has been extensively flooded after the recent hurricanes and has produced some great rarities as a result.
 
While I did not see any of those great ones today, I did find some rarities for this inland location.

At Turtle Bay, I saw the immature Blue Grosbeaks plus sandpipers of Spotted, Stilt, Least, Semi-Palmated, White-Rumped along with Killdeer and Semi-Palmated Plover.

On Onion Avenue, I had another Stilt Sandpiper, plus Short-Billed Dowitcher and Pectoral Sandpipers along with both species of Yellowlegs

Later on Missionland Road I observed a pair of Golden Plovers, Sanderling, and also this (rare for Orange County) Western Sandpiper.

click images to enlarge