The Big Boys in Town

A glorious day today, following a week of spectacular lightning storms that kept all of Tequis awake and replenished the dwindling water levels at La Presa.

A week on from when I last visited, and the avifauna has changed again. This is a staging post, there's no doubt about it. At this time of year, most of the birds seen on one visit will have long gone by the time you next come. In their place can be something totally different. Today, for example, Baird's and Least Sandpipers down to a 'bair' handful most of the way around the lake, and instead, the shoreline covered with Spotted Sandpipers and Lesser Yellowlegs.

The Phalaropes appear to be a constant presence, but their numbers are climbing. Today, over 2500, including a raft which allowed particularly close approach.

In the centre of the lake very few Blue-winged Teals and Mexican Ducks, no Pintails and certainly no Fulvous Whistlers (that was a rare stroke of luck). Shovelers, though, have taken over, from dam to swamp, and shallows to deeps. On the far edge, 65 Eared Grebes had gathered together with the odd Yankee Coot and Ruddy Duck, claiming one of the few

unoccupied patches of water.

After a couple of miles without seeing any new birds, my luck changed for the better. First, a huge bird cruised over. Looked like a Grey Heron on steroids. It was the big boy, though, a fine adult Great Blue Heron, winter visitor in these parts.

I then reached wader central. A few Bairds and Spottys crept around low, but it was the long-legged Waders that grabbed the attention. Black-necked Stilts dominant and interspersed with impossibly elegant American Avocets. Stilt Sandpipers made to look small by 60+ Lesser Yellowlegs, and then the Leser Yellowlegs themselves dwarfed by their big brother, a Greater Yellowlegs. Hard to tell apart individually, but the difference in size dramatic when seen close together.

Thought I'd be able to walk all the way round the Res, but a particularly angry muddy river cut me off. Had to turn round. Never mind. On my way back, a large wader took flight that was hundreds of miles from where it should have been. The Willet's striking underwing pattern is unmistakeable. A great bird this far inland, I grabbed a few record shots. Here's the big fella in flight with L.Y. Legs and B.S.

I focussed a bit more on the scrub on my way back. Just as well. I was quickly into Verms, Loggerheads, a few Bullock's Orioles and the noisy Cactus Wrens. A few tiny birds flitting through the scrub were new to me, though. Grabbed a few shots, good enough to confirm my third lifer of the morning, Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher.