300 !!!!!!!! (13Sept2014)

I started the day out birding Fort Fisher, hoping the rain brought in some rarities.  The only rare bird I found was Sam Cooper.  We compared notes.  I saw some Yellow Warblers and he saw a Cape May.  We both saw a plethora of Eastern Kingbirds.

After a long intermission of 3 soccer games I headed out again.  Lee Bucks was practically under water and I was lucky to make it through without getting stuck.  No birds at the huge puddle that is forming in the plowed field, but I probably just got there after everything had been flushed by a raptor because Greg went later and saw a ton of birds.

So then I went to EV Henwood which I had not been to in a long time.  My target was a Northern Waterthrush.  Nothing was stirring and I was really frustrated because apparently the park is no longer maintained and all the trails were overgrown with spider webs really thick all the way in to the little lake.  I finally made it in and there was nothing.

So then I rolled the dice.  The last 10 times I have been to Oakland Plantation sod farms it has been really slow with just some Pectoral Sandpipers.  This time looked to be more of the same until I got to the field by the office.  It was chock full of birds.

These birds looked really interesting.  Bigger than the nearby peeps, smaller than the Pectorals, streaking along sides under wings, long tapered appearance.

Wing tips slightly longer than the tail. Yep, they were White-rumped Sandpipers!  My nemesis bird after the Swallow-tailed Kite which I got last month.  I called Greg and he came down and got them too.

This picture was taken in bad light, and I was really trying to get the White-rump in flight so I could ID him for sure.  Unfortunately in this photo the White-rump looks to have a dark line behind his raised wing.  More on this in a sec.  From left to right, Killdeer then White-rump then Pectoral then wait a minute is that a Long-Bill Dowitcher?  Actually I had no idea it was a Long-billed, I was just taking a picture of the White-rump.  Greg and I were in separate cars and when I pulled next to him after these birds flew off he said "did you see the Long-billed Dowitcher".  Well I had seen the dowitcher but for some reason I was just dismissing it as a Dowitcher and didn't even ask myself if it was short or long.  Now that I look at the picture zoomed in, I think it is a Long-billed.  It appears to be similar to Sibley's juvenile picture.  Grayish breast and gray tertials with rufous edging.  That being said I am never confident on them.  I did not get a picture of his tail in flight unfortunately.  Anyway, I have already tallied Long-billed Dowitcher although I am hoping to get a more definitive one later with a rump shot in flight.

White-rumped - nice streaking on this one.

And finally a definitive rump shot of the White-rumped on left and a Pectoral on right. Note that the dark area on tail under the white rump is what I was seeing in above shot which confused me.

How nice to break 300 photographed species.  That was my goal at the beginning of this year but now I know I can do better.  Maybe 330!!!

Great times.