In lieu of my lunchtime walk around Schoolhouse Pond, I spent 20 minutes or so at the Recycling Center Pond along Brown Station Road over lunch.  Jeff Shenot had found a White-rumped Sandpiper this morning, which I hoped to relocate.  Although I didn't find that bird, there were lots of shorebirds and waders present.  Highlights included 1 juvenile Snowy Egret side by side with the regularly appearing immature Little Blue Heron.  I got good views of both birds next to each other as they foraged around the pond.

Shorebird numbers continue to gradually build, although the mix of species has stayed about the same, at least when I've been there over the last week or so.  Shorebirds included 31 Least Sandpipers, 10 or so Semipalmated Sandpipers, 1 Western Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 3 Greater Yellowlegs, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, 3 Pectoral Sandpipers (including one especially small individual), 7 or 8 Killdeer. and 5 Solitary Sandpipers.  I should also point out that there was a family of Wild Turkeys at the recycling pond this morning, including several young.

Fred Shaffer

Crofton, Anne Arundel