Shorebirds and Scissor-tails Wash Into Palmetto Meadows

Sometime in the last few weeks, I lost my desire to blog. Not sure what happened except that lots of stuff is going on. The fact that relatively spring-like weather arrives every few days and has kept me out of doors is also a contributing factor.
I have missed several blogging opportunities, however. Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas during spring break was a welcomed respite from cold weather here. I picked up Black and White Warblers, Pine Warblers, many Pine Siskins, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch while there, but managed to miss the Brown-headed Nuthatches that apparently make the mountain their home. Enough of the past.....

Another flood hit the Ozarks this week, so Marvin DeJong and I headed out to Palmetto in search of shorebirds. We were not disappointed as Pectorals, Semipalmalteds, and Yellowlegs, both Greater and Lesser, congregated in the first casual water stop. I had never noticed an orange-legged Yellowlegs before, but found one there.My best shorebird pictures for the day involved Solitary Sandpipers. Guess you saw the one at the beginning of the entry. Here's a couple more of them.
Both Marvin and I celebrated the arrival of two very cooperative Scissor-tailed Flycatchers. We saw three for the day, and also spotted our first Blue-gray Gnatcatcher of the year. I have posted one of my STFL pictures.It's been a great year for shorebirds in the greater Ozarks area. Charley Burwick spotted 10 Long-billed Curlews a week ago near Lockwood, Missouri. It was the first Long-billed Curlews sighting in Missouri since 1996 and the sighting beat the previous high number set over 100 years ago! Here's a picture of one of the birds he saw on April 3rd.