In pursuit of the Curlew Sandpiper, I arrived at the Westhampton Dunes
"Overlook" at 1845 and stayed until 2010. This is the 3rd straight day I have
missed the bird, albeit the time of day and length of stay has not been
optimum.
When I climbed up the platform, the sandbar was about 2/3 covered, with ~ 8 of
the commoner species feeding & resting, among them, ~ a dozen Whimbrel being
the most numerous. As the bar kept shrinking, the birds kept leaving. At about
1955 a Snowy Egret put down and stated to fish - by then only 5 WHIM remained.
The snowy was having much success with wading out to between knee & body,
grabbing a "bait-size" fish and then walking it back in to "land", to maximize
it's chances of swallowing it's catch. He must have repeated this strategy 6-7
X before I left. The last whimbrel took off when, although the bar could still
be seen, it was finally covered - this is when I took my leave also. The still
feeding SNEG then became the reigning "King of the submerged hill" !
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