Finding Buff-breasteds and Golden-Plovers...away from Hart-Miller

Miliff@aol.com
Tue, 18 Aug 1998 12:50:02 EDT


Hello all,

I'd like to add a little to the discussion of finding Buff-breasted Sandpipers
in MD.  Even though several have already said it best (i.e. Go to Hart-
Miller!!), I wanted to elaborate on the status of Buff-breasted Sandpiper
elsewhere in MD.  Finding them is not a lost cause, and the species can
probably be found in a good day or weekend's work on the Eastern Shore anytime
in mid-September.  There are some easy stops on the way to Ocean City or
Delaware that are often productive.  I should add that most of the below is
speculation based on success finding Buff- breasteds and Golden-Plovers last
year (Upland Sandpipers I have been finding easily since 1994).  There is no
reason to suspect that other years aren't just as good for the species in the
areas mentioned, but the habitat is always changing and is rarely the same
even days later.

Last September I spent a lot of time (often with Jim Stasz) checking field
habitats on the Upper Eastern Shore of MD (i.e. Kent, Caroline, Queen Anne's,
and Talbot counties) looking for Buff-breasted Sandpipers and Golden-Plovers.
I (we) found several of the former and hundreds of the latter.  I tried to
describe some of our findings in the Fall 1997 issue of ABA Field Notes (just
came out!), but space limitations would not allow me to expound what we found
as much as I would have liked.  I'll try to do so here...(Jim, jump in if I
leave out anything).

BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER:  1997 sightings below - I'm sorry I don't have the
dates for all the sightings handy...

*1 northeast of Chestertown, KE, 9/6/97.  In dry, recently ploughed field with
150+ Am. Golden Plovers.  It was feeding off by itself somewhat.
* 1 at John Brown Turf Farm (on John Brown Rd.), QA, 9/6/97.  It flew in from
the turf area, calling, and landed in an area of upturned turf.  Somewhat
moist, it was similar to the above habitat.
* 1 at Shady Oaks Turf Farm, AA, was feeding among Killdeer in the short grass
on the back edge of the turf farm.  One had been seen here back in Sept. 1993
so it is worth checking.  The turf was fairly short and dry, and did not form
an even carpet (i.e. long pieces of grass emerged from the relatively short).
There were NO dirt areas nearby.
* 1 at Harney Rd. Pond, FR, (see Stauffer Miller's Birding Frederick County
guide for directions) was among other shorebirds (Semi Sand, Least, Semi
Plover, yellowlegs, killdeer) along the extensive mud edge.  The pond was
mostly dry, with an extensive mud/manuer edge.  
* 3 at John Brown Rd. Turf Farm, QA (again), were feeding right at the margin
of stripped turf.  The turf there was fairly lush (green), long, narrow areas
of stripped earth were fairly dry, though it had rained recently.
* 2 at Clark Lane, CN (first county record) were feeding in a freshly sprouted
Spinach field.  The Clark Lane area is a phenomenal field area, and some of
you may recall that it is where a flock of up to 195 Lapland Longspurs, 500+
Snow Buntings, and 1500+ Horned Larks wintered in 1995-1996.  The large field
areas to the north are bisected by a farm rd., which the farmer typically
grants permission to drive.  I visited there several times over the season -
on Sept. 5 there were some Killdeer and 7 Golden-Plovers far in the back of
the more westerly field which was freshly plowed.  On or about Sept. 13, the
more westerly field was barren of both plants and birds, while the more
easterly was recently plowed and had 56+ Golden-Plovers among 100+ Killdeer.
When I returned around Sept. 23, there were no birds in the easterly field,
but the westerly one had sprouted spinach plants and was FULL of birds.  I
counted 600+ Killdeer, and with much searching, turned up the two Buff-
breasted Sandpipers.  There were a few Golden- Plovers as well.  Jim returned
several days later, had many fewer Killdeer, one Buff-breast, 25 Golden-
Plovers, and a Black-bellied Plover.  I returned a couple day after that and
found almost all birds gone, but saw the 25 Golden-Plovers and the Black-
belly.  This is a great spot, and promising puddles sometimes form in the
center of the field (though last year the puddles did't attract many birds).  

The generalizations I would be willing to make are these: Plowed fields are
always good places to look, and for Buff-breasted Sandpipers, drier plowed
fields are generally better.  Turf farms are good as well, and efforts there
should concentrate in areas of stripped earth and sections of drier turf,
possibly with dirt patches or areas that have not been neatly cut.  Areas with
sparse short grass that have bare dirt in between may be best (a Buff-breast
at Easton Sewage Plant, Talbot county, in 1994 was feeding with other
shorebirds in this habitat).  I think of dry grass areas where someone has set
the mower too low as perfect habitat (the Buff-breasted Sandpipers that many
saw at Hurlock Sewage Plant, Dorchester County, in 1995 were along the grassy
dikes where the dry grass had been cut very short.  My suspicion is that the
best habitat is bare dirt with scattered small vegetation.  The above-
mentioned spinach field just "seemed" really good, and proved itself well over
several visits.  Stauffer Miller also reported finding several in similar
habitat in Frederick County one fall (I think he reported it in the
Yellowthroat...?) - I think his birds were in an onion field.  Another idea
would be to look for weedy fields that have recently been turned over and have
a lot of vegetation still poking out at the surface.  Recently planted fields
are relatively scarce in MD in September (the prime time for the species), but
are definitely worth a check no matter what.  I don't think corn fields are
good, the vegetation is too high to check for small sandpipers and is probably
not habitat they like.  I also don't think Soybean fields are productive -
Upland Sandpipers don't seem to use them, Killdeer rarely do, and again, the
vegetation is usually too high to scan.  I think the vegetation may be too
high or too dense.  Perhaps a field of sick and dying soybean, where the
plants are small and scattered, might be suitable.  As Jim said in his email,
the presence of Killdeer in field habitats usually makes it worth a scan.

AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER: We found this bird in a wide enough range of habitats,
that it is hard to generalize.  Almost any plowed field habitat seems
suitable.  Plowed field areas seem good no matter what, but the species
obviously has its favorite areas.  I would think it best to check any field
area with Killdeer, and to focus on the kinds of areas that Buff-breasted
Sandpipers seem to like (i.e. dry, short grass, spinach field type habitat,
turf farm edges), but to also check any wet fields.  Areas of recently
overturned turf seems really good.  Any dirt field with puddles can have
Golden-Plovers it seems.   The areas I found them in last year were - in a
massive dry dirt field, recently plowed (Kent), River Rd. Turf Farm
(Montgomery county), John Brown Rd. Turf Farm (Queen Anne's), Cordova Turf
Farm (Talbot), many on several visits to Clark Lane (Caroline), in the cells
at Ridgley Sewage Plant (Caroline), in plowed fields along Rte. 409 (Queen
Anne's), in dirt areas near Hurlock Sewage Plant (Dorchester), along the mowed
grassy dikes at Hurlock Sewage Plant, near a puddle in a large dirt field
along Rte. 301 near John Brown Rd. Turf Farm (Queen Anne's), Doub's Rd. Turf
Farm (Frederick), etc...  The same area is rarely good on successive days and
I suspect the species moves around a lot.   Despite much looking, I did not
find any Pacific Golden-Plovers, but it is worth mentioning that Maine has a
record, and England has had several.  Mountain Plover is another species to be
looked for (though at least the VA and MA records are of singles with Black-
bellied Plover flocks on the coast).

UPLAND SANDPIPER: Easy at a number of Eastern Shore sites from early-July on.
Easton Airport is one famous place (Salisbury Airport is even better, and
probably the best place in MD to see them, with counts of over 50 on occasion)
but I have found other places easier.  Research Farm, QA, and the Ridgley
area, CN, especially.  They REALLY seem to go for Alfalfa fields, (especially
cut alfalfa?), and the best strategy is just to drive the roads looking for
good habitat.  Soybean fields have produced them on RARE occasions, but are
generally a habitat that is so common and difficult to survey, that I don't
bother to scan them at all.  In grassy habitats, I tend to look for areas of
dry grass that is fairly tall (i.e. 3-6 inches), but not particularly dense
and may have dirt at the bases of the plants.  Airports typically have this
kind of habitat, but it is often hard to check them.  Turf farms have produced
Uppie sightings in "field poor areas" such as Howard. Montgomery, and Anne
Arundel counties, but generally don't seem very good for the species.
Persistence is needed, as the alfalfa is often as high as the birds and only
their head peeks out, or access to the airports is often limited.  Learning
the flight call, a musical, double noted "whit-whit" is INVALUABLE!!!, often
the birds just call and fly overhead.

BAIRD'S SANDPIPER: Last year I had no luck with that one, at turf farms,
sewage ponds, or elsewhere.  Maybe this year... (Actually, we did have one fly
in and circle the pond at Remington Farms Sept. 6, but that seemed like sort
of a fluke).  Areas of extensive mud along reservoir edges and/or sewage ponds
seem best (well, actually Hart-Miller is best).

TIMING: The best time for Buff-breasted Sandpipers is from about 20 August to
1 October.  Golden-Plovers have a much longer migration and should easily be
found from 20 August through 30 October, and with effort on through mid-
November or later.  Upland Sandpipers are migrating very early, and could be
found migrating south as early as late June, peak from 10 July to the end of
August, and can still be regularly found through 15 September.  

Early September is a great time to bird MD's Eastern Shore. On that above-
mentioned Sept. 5-6 trip we had: an Eared Grebe at Hurlock Sewage Ponds (2nd
county record), a Red-necked Phalarope at Ridgely Sewage Ponds (2nd county
record), Baird's Sandpiper at Remington Farms (1st county record), single
Wilson's Phalaropes at Remington Farms, Kent, and Terrapin Pt. Park, Queen
Anne's, in addition to some good landbird migration (at Eastern Neck
especially).  If anyone would like a little more detail on some of my favorite
spots and how to get there, let me know (I could give a list of 15-20 spots
worth visiting).  It is an underbirded area and I encourage you to go poke
around one weekend, rather than birding the same old patch near home...  

Best,

Marshall Iliff
miliff@aol.com  

PS - I'd love to hear about the habitat of other "non-Hart-Miller" Buff-
breasteds that MDOspreyers have seen...