Solitary Sandpiper is not alone.
Bird is here.
The garage beyond is affectionately known as the Pondhouse. Photos were taken yesterday. We are reaching peak color here at the edge of the red maple swamp.
First year I’ve ever seen a Solitary Sandpiper. Also the first year we’ve ever had a significant muddy clay beach rimming the pond due to extreme drought and low water levels.
The rock in the photo below was underwater and invisible to us for the 18 years we’ve lived here. The streams around here have completely dried up. At least it’s been a pretty mosquito-free summer and fall!
There was one SS stopping over at the end of September. I assume this is a different one, also on its way south.
Pretty markings.
Food is small invertebrates, sometimes small frogs, picked off the mud as the bird works steadily around the edges of its chosen pond.
NYT: Scenes from New England’s Drought
Some private wells have dried up. Farmers face millions of dollars in lost crops, and federal agricultural officials have declared much of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut a natural disaster area. Parts of rivers have withered into a series of ponds or wide stretches of stone, harming the ecosystems that depend on them. Bears and other wild animals are venturing into human habitats in search of food because there is little in their own.
Amy's Bird Blog 