Another beautiful afternoon and a half decent crowd at Reifel when I showed up to help out on the trails. On the birding front there were 57 Sandhill Cranes that showed up in the sanctuary late yesterday to roost for the evening. The highlight from the morning walk were the Sora and Virginia Rail showing well at the north corner of the west pond. Also of note was another sighting of a Hudsonian Godwit yesterday. With this in mind I started my walk around the outer ponds. The only shorebirds were Yellowlegs and Dowitchers. On reaching the northwest corner,
… the Sora (I saw two) were active and making brief appearances. While I did also manage to see one of the Virginia Rail, it was not cooperating for photos. I then spent some time checking the east dyke and inner trails seeing my first Dark-eyed Junco of the fall. It was after 3:30 pm and I decided to make one last pass of the west field. Things had changed since earlier with greater numbers and variety of shorebirds present. Then about half way along,
… the Hudsonian Godwit had shown up. It was hanging around with the Dowitchers and Yelllowlegs. A rare visitor to this area,
… but what made it even more interesting was the plumage. It was closer to breeding plumage instead of the plainer grey you would expect to see at this time of year.
It has been a few years since I have seen one, so this was a pleasant end to the day.