Darrell Clegg
Well-known member
Those of you who keep pagers or look at rare bird news in the UK will have seen that there has been a spate of American waders at Davidstow airfield in Cornwall. I decided to go up there after work yesterday to see the two Buff-breasted Sandpipers and the Baird's Sandpiper that wee on the runway.
I located the Baird's Sand easily enough and spent a pleasant half hour viewing it from my car at a range of as low as 5 metres. I left if feeding and headed the short distance to Crowdy reservoir. The time elapse between me leaving the bird on the runway and setting up my scope on the banks of the reservoir would have been about 10 minutes, so I was not too surprised to see a Baird's Sand happily feeding on the waters edge, and naturally assumed that it was the same bird. I again left the bird feeding and headed back to the airfield to see if I could see the Buff-breasted Sands. Imagine my surprise to find that when I got back to the airfield - there was a Baird's Sandpiper feeding with the Dunlin.
By now I was pretty convinced that there must be two Baird's Sandpipers, but when I asked the birders there if the Baird's had been there all the time, none of them knew. With the light fading fast I knew that there wasn't time to re-check the reservoir, so I left it.
This morning the newslines are saying that there are currently 2 Baird's - so can I count one as a find??
I never did see the Buff-breasts - I'll have to go back tonight
Darrell
I located the Baird's Sand easily enough and spent a pleasant half hour viewing it from my car at a range of as low as 5 metres. I left if feeding and headed the short distance to Crowdy reservoir. The time elapse between me leaving the bird on the runway and setting up my scope on the banks of the reservoir would have been about 10 minutes, so I was not too surprised to see a Baird's Sand happily feeding on the waters edge, and naturally assumed that it was the same bird. I again left the bird feeding and headed back to the airfield to see if I could see the Buff-breasted Sands. Imagine my surprise to find that when I got back to the airfield - there was a Baird's Sandpiper feeding with the Dunlin.
By now I was pretty convinced that there must be two Baird's Sandpipers, but when I asked the birders there if the Baird's had been there all the time, none of them knew. With the light fading fast I knew that there wasn't time to re-check the reservoir, so I left it.
This morning the newslines are saying that there are currently 2 Baird's - so can I count one as a find??
I never did see the Buff-breasts - I'll have to go back tonight
Darrell
