For those of us who live throughout the Interior of the United States, shorebirds are primarily migrants, breeding across Alaska and Canada and wintering along southern coasts. Of course, there are exceptions; spotted sandpipers summer and breed across most of the country and a fair number of species (upland sandpipers, mountain plovers, snowy and piping plovers, long-billed curlews, willets, Wilson's phalaropes, black-necked stilts and American avocets) summer on the Northern Plains and/or Intermountain West. Only three species are regular winter residents across the Interior.
Killdeer, large, noisy plovers are often observed on fields, along lakeshores and on the banks and sandbars of larger streams and rivers during the winter months, especially throughout the southern half of the country. Wilson's snipe, a stocky, long-billed "shorebird," favors wetlands and riverine mudflats, where it probes the damp soil for invertebrates; it, too, is primarily a winter resident across southern and central latitudes of the U.S. but is a permanent resident in the Northwest. Finally, American woodcocks are secretive residents of the eastern U.S. (summer residents in the north and permanent residents in the south); active at dawn and dusk, they prefer moist woodlands with nearby clearings.
This morning, at South Platte Park, I was fortunate to observe two of these winter shorebirds (killdeer and a lone Wilson's snipe), foraging on mudflats along the river and the valley pools. Of note, a spotted sandpiper, usually on southern shores by now, has been observed along the South Platte River in recent weeks.
Killdeer, large, noisy plovers are often observed on fields, along lakeshores and on the banks and sandbars of larger streams and rivers during the winter months, especially throughout the southern half of the country. Wilson's snipe, a stocky, long-billed "shorebird," favors wetlands and riverine mudflats, where it probes the damp soil for invertebrates; it, too, is primarily a winter resident across southern and central latitudes of the U.S. but is a permanent resident in the Northwest. Finally, American woodcocks are secretive residents of the eastern U.S. (summer residents in the north and permanent residents in the south); active at dawn and dusk, they prefer moist woodlands with nearby clearings.
This morning, at South Platte Park, I was fortunate to observe two of these winter shorebirds (killdeer and a lone Wilson's snipe), foraging on mudflats along the river and the valley pools. Of note, a spotted sandpiper, usually on southern shores by now, has been observed along the South Platte River in recent weeks.
