On my visit to Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area this morning, it was clear that the floodplain refuge has entered its summer mode. Of the 34 bird species that I encountered, only one was not a permanent or summer resident; the exception was a flock of white-rumped sandpipers.
After breeding on the Arctic tundra of North America, these long-distance migrants head for southern South America and adjacent islands, traveling primarily over the Atlantic Ocean. Come spring, they head northward over land, funneling through the Great Plains and Mississippi Valley. Due to the length of their journey, they are late spring migrants in the U.S., generally passing through in late May or early June.
This morning's flock was composed of 12 individuals, foraging on a mudflat along the central channel. Difficult to distinguish from other smallish sandpipers when on the ground, their white rump and terminal black tail band are exposed in flight and, fortunately, they complied this morning.
