Arctic Circle shorebirds migrating through Camas

A trip looking for bugling elk on Camas National Wildlife Refuge turned into an education on shorebird identification. Last Tuesday evening, I made a mile hike into Sandhole Lake, set up on a major elk trail to wait for the elk to come to water – they did not show up, but the birds did. Hundreds of Canada geese, ducks and sandhill cranes kept me busy and then a Great egret showed up.

It flew from a pod of seven White pelicans to a group of four Trumpeter swans as it appeared to be lost; it probably could not understand the foreign languages spoken by the two groups of white birds. Then the shorebirds also started showing up; several Greater yellowlegs, hundreds of White-faced ibis and two small flocks of American avocets joined the need of a flight controller over Sandhole Lake.

Disappointed by the elk no-show, I decided to head back to Ray’s Lake that had water in it when I passed it earlier. I had only seen a few tracks of elk on the east side, so I headed to the west side where I found major elk trails to the water. As I followed a trail through the willows and bulrushes, I could smell the elk, but could not hear any bugling.

Once I popped out onto the mud flat, I discovered that I was in bird heaven. Avocets were everywhere with a smattering of sandpipers, Great blue herons, geese, ducks, and Sandhill cranes were flying back to the water from the stubble fields. Too dark for pictures, I planned to be there early the next morning.

By 5:30 a.m. Wednesday I was set up in my camp chair at the edge of some willows about 20 feet from the water. At that time in the morning, sounds carry a long way and I finally heard a young bull elk start squeaking. He was very young and after three attempts at bugling, I heard an older bull bugle – just once. I am sure he said to his young competitor, “You can stop announcing your inexperience in these things, shut up or I will come over and kick your backside. You are a few days early, or even a couple of years early!”

So much for the elk, I was surrounded by birds. Sandhill cranes and geese were headed out to the fields and rafts of avocets, ibis and ducks were resting in the deeper water. Just as the sun came up, the “little brown” shorebirds and avocets started feeding in the shallows. I am not very good at identifying shorebirds, so I took a lot of pictures as they flew in and fed on emerging insects. But an expert birder, Darren Clark, from Rexburg, is great identifying most birds helped me out.

I took some pictures of a flock of birds that I thought were Least sandpipers that Darren later identified as a mixed flock of Baird’s and Western sandpipers. They were migrating from above the Arctic circle on their way to South America to winter. An immature Spotted sandpiper, with no spots, that I though might be a Lesser yellowleg was a major mistake by me.

While taking pictures of a flock of about 100 avocets, feeding with their “bottoms-up,” I noticed a very small bird that I had never seen before. It appeared to be a soft white and grey coloring and in my identification books, I determined that it was a Sanderling that nests on the northern edge of Alaska. Darren confirmed my identification. A life-bird for me.

I watched as a flock of Eared grebes flew in with a flock of smaller birds with them. As they landed, the two flocks separated, and the smaller birds turned out to be Red-necked phalaropes. Greater yellowlegs, Great blue herons, Ruddy ducks, and pelicans along with Ruby-crowned kinglets entertained me while sitting watching for three hours.

I will wait another week and then head out to try to intercept the elk as the bulls chase each other and the cows as they get active during their rut. In the meantime, I may make a few more trips to enjoy the migrants from the Arctic Circle.