Bird Board
Shorebirds west of Homestead
Posted by Larry Manfredi
about 8 years ago
4 Comments
There have been a few shorebirds the last couple of weeks in the south Dade farm fields. We had 12-Upland Sandpipers a week ago, yesterday I had four. I posted some photos of some of these birds seen, including a Least Sandpiper showing that birds do have teeth! Some of these birds can be seen in the plowed fields north of 9226 and west of s.w. 217 ave. I have posted photos of Least Sandpiper, Upland Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper and Solitary Sandpiper.
Comments
Any Black Terns in any of the wet fields?
The Homestead fields are too dry for terns. Only with the passage of a major storm event will those fields get enough water for terns, but they usually dry up pretty quickly. The puddles the do form are usually pretty small, unlike the vast flooded fields of Palm Beach.
I have taken a lot of open-mouth video of shorebirds, seen many anatomical drawings, examined museum specimens and read literature on the bill anatomy of shorebirds. No one ever mentions a serrated bill. This is truly amazing. Great shot.
Toe is correct about the farm fields, you need a large amount of rain to flood them enough to attract Black Terns. I have had them there before.
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