Buff-breasted Sandpiper and American Golden-Plover at Owens Lake

Observers: ESAS Audubon Trip (fide Chris and Rosie Howard
Email: chris93514@gmail.com
Date: 08/27/2007
Time: 07:58 PM -0400

The ESAS field trip to Owens Lake on 26 Aug, led by Jon Dunn and Mike Prather, had some notable highlights. Susan Steele found the first Buff-breasted Sandpiper to be documented in Inyo County. This bird was in first-fall plumage.  Soon after, while Jon was showing the group how to separate the ~3 Semipalmated Sandpipers from a flock of Westerns and Least's, Susan and Bob Steele found an American Golden-Plover. This is only the second (?) Inyo record for this species and one of the few adult records in Fall in the West, according to Jon. Excellent photos by Bob Steele are below: