There was a nice selection of shorebirds along the Howard County bank
of the Patuxent River on Browns Bridge Rd. late this morning,
8/9/12. Many Semipalmated Sandpipers, rather fewer Least, 3
Solitary, 4 Pectoral, 5 Killdeer, a Lesser Yellowlegs, and a bird I
am reasonably confident was a WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER.
The putative White-rumped was feeding voraciously with Semipalmated
Sandpipers; it was noticeably larger than they, darker backed, longer
winged, and with a heavier black bill, slightly down curved, and
black legs. The breast was diffusely streaked dark, with a small
number of contrasting and sharply defined black streaks along the
white flanks below the wings. The bird did not fly at all, so no
chance to see a white rump was afforded.
I searched my bird books for a picture of a bird that looked very
much like this one, and I found it on Page 69 of the new (2011
edition) of Kenn Kaufman's Field Guide to Advanced Birding.
I birded with Helen Patton and Linda Friedland from Montgomery
County. We looked for the Western Sandpiper that has been reported
several times from this location but could not find it. I later
spoke to Joe Hanfman by phone, and we think that there may have been
both a White-rumped and a Western Sandpiper present at Brown's Bridge today.
Earlier we had birded the mud flats in Triadelphia Reservoir from
vantage points at Greenbridge Rd. and Triadelphia Lake Rd., both on
the Montgomery County side. Many birds there were frustratingly too
far away to identify confidently, but certainly included Killdeer,
Spotted, Pectoral and Solitary Sandpipers, several Semipalmated
Plovers and lots of "peep." By contrast, the birds at Brown's Bridge
were much closer and made for more satisfying viewing.
No sign of American Avocet anywhere. A few Cliff Swallows still at
Brighton Dam.
Michael Bowen
Montgomery Bird Club
Bethesda, MD
D.H. Michael Bowen
8609 Ewing Drive
Bethesda, MD 20817
Telephone: (301) 530-5764
e-mail: dhmbowenATyahooDOTcom
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