Hi GA birders,

I was hoping to find some interesting shorebirds in between bands of bad weather after work this evening, so I headed out to Bostwick Sod Farm where Mark McShane was already busy at the spotting scope. We didn't get any of the Bank Swallows that have been seen there the past 2 days nor any rare grasspipers or Golden Plovers, but a good diversity of shorebirds had been dropped in by the rain since Mark had visited earlier in the day. Shorebird totals from our ebird report included:

BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER 1 (just barely starting to fade a bit from immaculate breeding plumage) Semipalmated Plover 1 Killdeer 150+ Lesser Yellowlegs 2 Semipalmated Sandpiper 1 Least Sandpiper 18+ Pectoral Sandpiper 3

A Great Blue Heron looked lost standing in a tiny, newly formed puddle in the middle of the short grass. Mark had a flock of 15 Mississippi Kites around noon, but no Swallow-taileds today. He also had a solitary Solitary Sandpiper on the Braswell Church Road Pond just over the Walton Co. line and a Loggerhead Shrike along the road there, although the Peep show there seems to have left.

In the fading light, I stopped by the small farm pond on Astondale Rd. near the intersection of Old Farmington Rd. in Oconee Co. I was pleasantly surprised to find 2 juvenile SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS there at the closest, best viewed portion of the pond, showing off their buffy breasts and striped tertials. As an added bonus, they were flushed by Mallards a number of times only to circle back and return to the exact same spot while giving their Lesser-Yellowlegsish call notes. If only all Dowitchers were so cooperative. They were joined by a single Semipalmated Sandpiper and a Spotted Sandpiper. Yesterday folks saw 3 Leasts and 2 Solitaries there, and Saturday I had nothing at all, so the shorebird changeover rate has been pretty high in this weather.

Good birding,

Joel McNeal Winterville (Athens-Clarke Co.), GA

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