Golden Plovers/Buffies in DE
GAIL@UMDD.UMD.EDU
Fri, 18 Sep 98 20:57:55 EDT
Barry took a friend to Delaware today to look for Buff-breasted Sandpipers--
they found a flock of (a minimum) 40 American Golden Plovers and at least
two Buffies in a field along DE Rt. 8, between Dover and Little Creek.
As you leave Dover on Rt. 8, pass under the new bypass, and after a mile
or so there is a large white farmhouse on the left. The field directly
across the road from the farmhouse (to your right) was being actively
irrigated, and that's where the birds were. All the other fields were bone-
dry.
Barry says these numbers were absolute minimums -- there may have been far
more, but the birds were constantly being flushed by the large transport
planes from Dover AFB. At one time they had over 100 birds flying around but
due to distance and light couldn't ID all of them.
Anyway, for those looking for Buffies -- here's a spot.
And by the way, they also checked the John Brown Rd. turf farm and no birds
were there today.
Gail Mackiernan
gail@umdd.umd.edu