Shorebirds in Milwaukee, August 2018

The last week of August has been very good for shorebird migration. We have had a very good variety, along with high numbers of birds, at the various beaches in the county. Last weekend the entire beach at Bender Park was covered in algae, some areas over ten feet wide, hosting over 30 birds. Today, there was no algae and only two birds. It really is quite amazing how it develops and then disappears, in a matter of days. Grant Park, on the other hand, has had a great algae mat for over a week now, but no birds. I’ve been checking it almost daily. On 8/21, Grant Park did however, have two juvenile Dunlin, that created quite the excitement for everyone as they were originally reported as Western Sandpipers. Along with the 2 Dunlin were 4 Sanderlings and 4 Semipalmated Sandpipers. On 8/24, Bender Park had 21 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 5 Sanderling, 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, 2 Least Sandpipers and 1 Spotted Sandpiper. On 8/25, Lakeshore State Park had 2 Baird’s Sandpipers and 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper. On 8/29, Bradford Beach had 2 Piping Plovers, 11 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 1 Ruddy Turnstone and 1 Semipalmated Plover. But depending when you were there, many of the birds might not have been seen, due to the amount of activity for the 115th Harley celebration. I didn’t arrive until about 2:30pm and I only saw the three plovers, missing out on the turnstone for a third time this year. It’s always nice to see Piping Plovers, and this time both birds were not banded. There have been shorebirds on the different beaches every day, but these are from my sightings. Now let’s hope the next few weeks bring in a couple rare ones. There are a few pictures of each bird below, with the links taking you to their individual pages and full galleries.