No Purple Sandpiper for Us: Nov. 23, 2022

It was a warm and wind-free morning for us at Col. Sam Smith Park. Several birders informed us that a Purple Sandpiper was in the vicinity and we looked everywhere. Purple Sandpipers breed within the Arctic Circle and are usually seen here only in November usually on rocky promontories or piers. When we see it, it is mainly dark, slate gray (like the rocks on which it is often found) with a white belly and yellow to orange legs. I photographed this one a year or two ago.

Purple Sandpiper with duck observer
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper

We were unable to find it.

Birds we did find:

American Robin
Bufflehead (female)
Red-breasted Merganser (female)
Mallard (male)
Hooded Merganser (female)
Common Goldeneye (female)
Long-tailed Ducks
Common Goldeneye (female)
Long-tailed Duck (male)
Long-tailed Duck (female)
Common Goldeneye (female)
Long-tailed Ducks (female)
American Robin
American Black Duck (male)
Northern Cardinal (female)
Red-breasted Merganser (female)
Northern Cardinal (male)
Ring-billed Gull
Mallard (male)
Ring-billed Gulls
Mute Swan
American Robin
Mute Swan
Mallard (female)
Dark-eyed Junco (male)

Today’s group:

MAILBOX

Tight closeup of Osprey parent feeding chicks.

NATURE POETRY

The geese honked overhead.
I ran to catch the skein
To watch them as they fled
In a long wavering line.      – May Sarton (1912–95)

Miles Hearn

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