Friday, 14 October 2016

Laguna Blanca - Confused species new to my Laguna Blanca list!!

13/10
The pitfall trap production line was taking itself into the Cerrado today where the study would take place. There was just enough time to check the lagoon and seasonal pond for any migrants that had been downed by the previous night storm.

I noticed a small shorebird that was keen to land on the beach. The Lapwings had other ideas and flew into action chasing the tired bird over the reeds. I took a few shots and then made my way to the pond. The rest of the day was spent with the housemates in the Cerrado digging pitfall lines.

The storm raged through the night and the power went out making for a good opportunity to catch up on some sleep. Jeremy informed me that there was a very obliging shorebird along the beach which looked like a White-rumped Sandpiper. I showed him my pictures from the previous day and it was confirmed as the same bird.

This was good news as at around this time last year I flushed three birds which fitted this species description but I did not get a good enough look at them before they flew off. I hot footed it along the beach and photographed the bird which was a couple of metres from me. It must have been hungry to ignore my slow advances! 


After some consultation with the Helm Guide to Bird Identification Comparing Confusion Species White-rumped Sandpiper gets the vote over Baird's. I hope more bird ID guides will make it onto Kindle!!

Both would have been a new bird for my Laguna Blanca list putting me one closer to the reserve total. There is still a lot of birds to see and some species that will be one off visitors!!

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