Squantum Highlights

[Paul Peterson]

It looks like shorebirds are at their peak numbers now. Roughly one thousand Semipalmated Sandpipers on the mudflats off East Squantum St. a bit beyond where Victory Rd. comes off on the left.  I birded from 12:00-2:30, High Tide:10:30 a.m. I stayed along East Squantum St. the whole time I was there, first birding the salt pannes, and then walking up to the first sand bar, which is just beyond the aforementioned mudflats. I had eights shorebird species in the first salt panne. (but not all at once, for I returned one or two times due to bird movements)

Great Egret 7
Snowy Egret 11
Osprey 7
Cooper's Hawk 1
Peregrine Falcon 1 ?                     quick look
Black-bellied Plover 6                 on sandbar
Semipalmated Plover x
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1,000       See Above; rough estimate; impossible to count
Least Sandpiper 3
White-rumped Sandpiper 3           F.O.Y.
Lesser Yellowlegs 20
Greater Yellowlegs 4
Short-billed Dowitcher 14
Pectoral Sandpiper 1                   F.O.Y.
Laughing Gull 6
Common Yellowthroat 1

Paul Peterson
peterso...@yahoo.com
Boston