For the most part, I do the majority of my picture taking in the Milwaukee area. The last few years have not been very good here for shorebirds though, this year included. We did get several Buff-breasted Sandpipers at Lakeshore State Park, which were awesome! There was also a Stilt Sandpiper in a flooded field off County Line Rd. We got two there in spring as well. The hotspot around me this migration season was the Wind Lake Sod Farms. There was an Upland Sandpiper, 10+ Buff-breasted Sandpipers, over 30 American Golden Plovers, several Black-bellied Plovers, a few Semipalmated Plovers, hundreds of Killdeer, 10+ Baird’s Sandpipers, 1 Sanderling and several Least, Pectoral and Semipalmated Sandpipers. Most of the birds provided great looks, with a little patience. I think they had certain areas closer to the roads, that were turned over, creating good close spots for the birds this year. All the photos below were taken in August and September. Enjoy!
American Golden Plovers at Wind Lake Sod Farm 8/30/20
My friend gave me a heads up, that he had 5 American Golden Plovers, at the sod farms on Saturday night. I figured they would still be around on Sunday, with it being south winds all day. I waited for the evening, when the sun was in the west and lighting would be perfect. I stopped near the northernmost field first and saw about 50 or so Brewer’s Blackbirds. They were very close to the road, but with a large flock of starlings constantly flying around, they spooked as well, and moved farther back. I continued south to the field with the “Wind Lake Sod Farm” sign in it. There I found the jackpot of shorebirds! 12 American Golden Plovers, 2 Black-bellied Plovers, 1 Semipalmated Plover, 1 Buff-breasted Sandpiper, 6 Baird’s Sandpipers, 2 Least Sandpipers, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper and 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper. There was also a Killdeer convention in service, in which I counted 52, but it’s nearly impossible to count them, moving around so much. I’m guessing there were more than 75. Most of the golden plovers were fairly close to the road and gave excellent views. The images below are from the day. Enjoy!
