My
shorebird list for 2008 just keeps growing. This is one of the most delightful surprises, yet, for my 2008
birding year. I live in the suburbs and, since my only means of transport is a bicycle, I don't have access to a typical marsh or mudflat. This usually means I come up short on shorebirds. Not this year, though, thanks to a
suburban park lake which seems to be improving each week in terms of habitat for shorebirds. Last week, I added a Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher and Solitary Sandpiper to my list. Yesterday, using my
binocular, I picked up a Lesser and a Greater Yellowlegs. In fact, at one time I had both Yellowlegs, plus a Solitary and a Killdeer in the same field of view in my
Swarovski compact binocular. It was the perfect opportunity to compare and see the different sizes on all four species - an important field mark when you can see more than one species at a time.