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Topsail spoil- Sunday



Brian Pendergraft and I briefly visited the Topsail spoil site under the
210 bridge on Sunday AM.  I had hoped that the recent rains may have
increased the habitat and number of birds at this freshwater impoundment.
The rain may have been too much of a good thing!  The shallow (3 inches or
less) pool apparently filled with too much water, broke through the narrow
dike separating it from the deeper water, and drained.  The shallow pool is
now caked mud.  This small disappointment aside, the variety of birds was
similar to those seen last weekend.

Noted were:
Stilt Sandpipers (about 6 birds all but one molting from breeding plumage,
one bird in basic plumage)
Short Billed Dowitchers (about 25 birds, most retaining some breeding
plumage, a few immatures with the mottled tertials indicative of S-billed)
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Whimbrel (1 flyby)
Least Sandpiper
Caspian Tern
Least Tern
asst. peeps (most of these birds were in basic plumage, none had a
particularly "Western" bill or the rusty juvenile plumage, I'm leaning
toward Semi-P but won't call either way)

None of the plovers reported recently, or any of the more than 2 dozen
Solitaries I saw last week were present on Sunday.  This location seemed to
be attractive to Wilson's Phalaropes last Sept.  Hopefully some will return
this year!

Regards,
Steve Shultz
steven.shultz@us.pwcglobal.com
Cary, NC

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