Solitary Sandpiper

Even though it is a sandpiper the solitary sandpiper does not seem to follow many of the rules that we associate with shorebirds. First off, most shorebirds prefer shore habitat with very little vegetation but the solitary sandpiper does not seem to mind pools, lakes, ponds or rivers with vegetation on the shores. Solitary sandpipers are also one of only two sandpipers that nest in the trees, instead of on the ground like most other shorebirds. Finally solitary sandpipers usually migrate alone or in small groups unlike other shorebirds that typically migrate in larger flocks. However I do not believe that being different is a good reason for being solitary.

Vermillion River Birding

Well we got our first real snow of the year yesterday. Fortunately we missed the bulk of the storm, over in South Dakota some places received several feet of snow from this storm. I expected that when I looked outside this morning that I would find a new white covering but I was happy to see that none of the snow that fell accumulated. Considering that it was over 70 degrees early last week the ground was apparently still to warm for the snow and it all melted. The temps have below freezing at night now so it probably wont be too long before we are cast into a winter wonderland. One good thing about the cold weather is that perhaps it will encourage the winter birds to head south. I have not seen too many of the birds that winter in the area yet probably because of the unseasonably warm temps that we had last weekend. If we continue to see these cold temps then the lakes and rivers will begin to freeze and the eagles will begin to congregate in the places where the river remains open during the winter.
One of the rivers that does not remain open during the winter is the Vermillion River. During the winter it is pretty quiet but back on August 17th I did a bit of birding down at the Vermillion River. The eastern phoebe, pictured above, is one of the most common types of flycatchers that we see in Minnesota during the summer.
A bird that is much less common is the indigo bunting. Indigo buntings spend the summer on breeding territories mostly on the eastern half on the US. During this time the males are in their breeding plumage, blue and black, and are easy to spot.
In winter they molt into plumage that is much more like that of the female, pictured above. They migrate south at night using the stars to guide them to their wintering grounds down in south Florida, Mexico and Central America.
In the river I found a lone solitary sandpiper. Although they can be seen alone solitary sandpipers are not really solitary. They got their name because of the fact that they do not migrate in large flocks like most other shorebirds do.

Shorebird Workshop Solitary Sandpiper

At the beginning of August I traveled to South Dakota for a few days to participate in a shorebird workshop. The conditions for shorebirds was not as good as I had hoped, rain the week before made the water level of many of the locations that are usually considered prime shorebird spots to high, but we found a few good spots where we had 20 to 50 birds that we could get real good looks at. This was very helpful for the workshop, since it gave us enough birds to look at and compare but not so many that it would be difficult to find a particular bird in a crowd.
One of the birds that we saw in several locations was the solitary sandpiper. The distinguishing marks of the solitary sandpiper are the bold eye ring and the dark shoulder. These marking help to distinguish it from the similar looking lesser yellowlegs, which is only slightly larger but does not have the eye ring or dark shoulder. Both markings are very visible in the photos.
Another thing that you can frequently us distinguish a solitary sandpiper from similar shorebirds is to look at the habitat in which you find the bird. Solitary sandpipers are one of the few shorebirds that do not mind having vegetation in the mud around them, most other shorebirds look for mud that is clear of any and clutter.
Because it does not mind vegetation solitary sandpipers are often found wading in the shallows of small ponds while they migrate between summer breeding grounds in Canada and wintering grounds in Mexico, Central and South America. Unlike other shorebirds the solitary sandpipers do not migrate in large flocks like other shorebirds, which is perhaps why they are called solitary.
Solitary sandpipers are the only type of sandpiper in the Americas, and one of only two world wide, that nests in trees. They use the abandon nests of song birds such as robins, jays, waxwings and kingbirds.

Purgatory Creek Shore Birds

This summer when gas prices got high I decided to try and do more of my birding closer to home. There were a few good spots in the Twin Cities that I visited regularly, Carpenter Nature Center, Mn Valley NWR, Dodge Nature Center and Wood Lake Nature Center, but in the past I also did a lot of traveling to places like Crex Meadows,Carlos Avery, Necedah NWR, Hok Si La, Park Point, Hawk Ridge, and Sax Zim Bog. This year since I was limiting my trips to those further locations I needed to find some new spots in the Twin Cities that I could visit to give me some more variety. Near the end of July I found a new spot that fit the bill. Purgatory Creek Park is a wetland area surrounding Purgatory Creek in Eden Prairie, MN. It is in the South west part of the Twin Cities, and I live on the South East, so it is not as close as many of the parks that I frequent in the Twin Cities but it is still only 20 to 30 minutes away, depending on traffic. They have a good system of trails, including one that runs between two wetland areas, and a viewing area. I heard about it on the MOU list server because it had some of the best mud flats around back at the end of July.
So I headed off to Eden Prairie after work to explore the park and check out the mud flats for any possible shore birds. I was not disappointed. There were a lot of things for me to photograph. They even had a small mud flat with a few shorebirds like this killdeer.
Besides for the killdeer I also spotted a solitary sandpiper. You can tell that it is a solitary, as I learned later in August at the shorebird workshop which I attended, because of the white eye ring and the dark shoulder.
Solitary sandpiper often found alone, thus the name. They are unlike most other shorebirds in that they do not mind having vegetation around, so they are often found wandering small ponds.
The lesser yellowlegs, on the other hand, will usually avoid mud that is filled with greenery. They use their long legs to wade through the water looking for aquatic insects, and small fish to eat.
It is difficult to tell the difference between the lesser and greater yellowlegs. A lot of people look for a difference in size to tell them apart but this can be difficult when you have only one bird. In our shorebird class we were told to examine the beak of the bird, if it is two toned then it is a greater yellowlegs but if it is a single color, as this bird demonstrates, then it is a lesser yellowlegs.