Gregarious Sandpipers
Biologists often describe species that live in flocks, often flocks of mixed species, as "gregarious". I always rather liked this as I too have often been described as "gregarious". And that's true, of the many about this pandemic that are unpleasant, I think the thing I miss most the daily interaction between myself and my network of friends and acquaintances. A flock of various species gethered together. Note particularly the individual in the upper left. Some discussion on FB "what's this bird" page. Is it another semipalmated plover or something different. As I have noted elsewhere, this is the longest sustained time I have in Kittery Point, and I am seeing patterns in migration I haven't noticed before. Early in the summer there was a concerning lack of sandpipers on the beach. A check of eBird showed that this was completely normal. The Killdeer have been here since early June, then in the past month, the sandpipers and waders h...