juvenile shorebirds (late & low), W-w Dove

By – 10:01 am

As of August 6th, I have found juvenile shorebirds across the board to be late and in low numbers so far this fall. The first species to arrive, as is typical, back in the third week of July (a bit late) was juv. Willet, followed soon by juv. Wilson’s Phalaropes, and then by juv Long-billed Curlew and Marbled Godwit. And then since the beginning of August there have been juvenile Semipalmated Plovers, Least & Western Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitchers, Red-necked Phalaropes, as well as a slightly early (Aug 2-3) juv. Greater Yellowlegs. But for most everything, the first juvs are appearing a good week late and almost all appear to still be in decidedly low numbers for this date. I heard that it was a late spring in much of western Alaska, so perhaps (hopefully) things are just running late and numbers will very soon improve greatly; but I also heard that at some point in early summer there was a major heat event in parts of mainland western Alaska and that many nesting waterbirds there may have failed. So, we’ll see…..

Today, Aug 6th, there was a White-winged Dove bordering and in the TRV community gardens. About half the years, this is the first coastal landbird stray I see in the fall season.

Yesterday, Aug 5th, there was a Hutton’s Vireo on outer Point Loma, where a rare but somewhat regular fall visitor (Aug-Nov). Perhaps just a post-breeding disperser from not too far away. This is the earliest date there, I believe.

–Paul Lehman, San Diego