A week or so ago I left on a spur of the moment trip to PE to go hunt down Wilsons and Red-necked Phalaropes that was seen on a salt works out side of PE.
The weather let us down, and with rain and very little visibility at the pans we had no chance of finding these birds. The pans are quite extensive and views across them are sometimes up to a kilometer. Thus finding these birds in good light is already a challenge.
The two days were not wasted for me as I managed to pick a a few lifers in the area. The first started with Damara Tern at Cape Recife. I also picked up two other species that I have long looked for there. These were Grey Plover and Sanderling. They were so abundant on this trip that they soon became trash birds.
A tip off provided me with my next lifer – Chestnut Banded Plover. We got the location for a breeding pair and their chick. We managed to locate the chick first and then found the adults. If this is the case with this species, what is their survival rate?
Our last visit was to the Sunday’s River mouth where I managed to connect with Terek Sandpiper.
I might have missed the two rarities but at least I did not return home empty handed.