Last Shorebirds of Spring, SPI 6-7-24

This morning I thought I would head east to get out of the heat and maybe make a run up the beach at South Padre Island in the eternal search for a migrant Arctic Tern.  But as I approached the exit for Laguna Vista I decided a search of the Laguna Vista Reservoir might be in order.  Actually it's not a reservoir but a vast mostly dry playa that recieves effuent from the Laguna Vista sewage treament plant.  Good idea as this late Whimbrel was my first for the year.

A small flock of more common Long-billed Curlews stopped by.  They are longer billed and more buffly than the Whimbrel.

I jut checked the TOS Handbook of Texas Birds only to discover that our summer breeding Willets are of the eastern subspecies.  The immatures that pass through in July and August are "Western" Willets.  That makes sense as these birds today were the dark "Eastern" Willetrs.

Black-necked Stilts also breed here.

Other late shorebirds today inclued Least, White-rumped and Pectoral Sandpipers but all were too distant for photos.  I wasted a lot of time trying to turn this distant Wilson's Plover into a fourth US record Collared Plover but as Steve Howell says in Rare Birds of North America "ironically Collared Plover lacks the white collar of Wilson's Plover."  Normally the large bill of Wilson's Plover makes identification easy but this bird was so distant.  But it did have a white collar.

So then I was off to nearby South Padre island.  A stop at Sheepshead turned up nothing so I ran up to the flats north of the Convetion Center to eat my luch and watch shorebirds.  But luch got interrupted by five flyover Magnificent Frigatebirds, my first for the year.

Then a flock of nine late Marbles Godwits landed nearby.

And then it was nine late Red Knots.  Don't see any bands on these.  These are nonbreeding birds and may well not continue the journey north.  The big ones are Willets.

Here's a late Semipalmated Plover.

There were plenty of Royal Terns around.  I don't know if these are going to nest, have already nested or are just going to say "To hell with it."

Nonbreeding Common Tern.

"Bring me a fish and I'll think about it."  Least Terns.

I never made it to the beach but it was still an interesting day.