Jeannette, Ed, and I began the morning at Sandy Point. With the cold front passing through in the late evening, and northwest winds predicted for most of the night, we were expecting a huge flight. And, the flight was off to a good start with 18 calls heard in 10 minutes over the house last night, not long after the rain had stopped.

However, come morning, the winds were westerly, and the skies had yet to clear completely. The flight was moderately-heavy, and pretty diverse, but not the “big one,” I hoped for. Regardless, it was a good morning, with included a total of 14 species of warblers – mostly American Redstart and Northern Parula. One Lincoln’s Sparrow – one of my favorites – was in the scrub at the parking lot’s edge, my first of the fall. About 700 passerines in total were tallied, but I clicked 561 unidentified passing overhead. My percentage of unidentified was even worse than normal due to some thick clouds at dawn preventing the sun from shining – most of the flyovers were colorless silhouettes.

Ed and I then headed to Phippsburg, with shorebirds at Popham Beach State Park being the primary targets. Most of our shorebirds were seen in Atkins Bay from Fort Popham and Fort Baldwin, but as the tide rolled in we headed over to the park. 175 Sanderling, all juveniles, was my highest count so far this year, but other than a few Semipalmated Sandpipers and a smattering of Semipalmated Plovers, there was little else.

Ed and I were stationed on the beach, overlooking the mouth of the Morse River, waiting from any shorebirds that were feeding upstream to come to the sandbar to roost. Nearly ready to give up, I then whispered, “Ed, don’t move. Look down to your left.”

Two Buff-breasted Sandpipers had appeared directly in front of us, no more than 15 feet away! They were walking by us, below a little sand ledge, and then hopped into view to forage on some wrack. We watched them for about 15 minutes, as they foraged along the beach and in some dry wrack. Ed snapped away with his camera – but the birds were too close for digiscoping! (Although he did get some pretty darn good shots). I however, sank my head in disgust – once again, my camera was in the car.

As the Buffies walked back towards me, I crouched down in the sand, looking over the little lip, as they slowly sauntered by – a mere 12 feet away. Not only did they clearly know that I was camera-less, but I think they were even laughing at me!

But, having seen NINE of these gorgeous birds in the last FOUR days – they were a nemesis bird 5 days ago! – I guess I really can’t complain!