Shorebirds at Bennington Lake

We're beginning to get some mud at the lake and it really paid off today.  We had nine species of shorebirds: semi-palmated plover, killdeer, Wilson's snipe, red-necked phalarope, western sandpiper, least sandpiper, semi-palmated sandpiper, spotted sandpiper, Baird's sandpiper.  Not bad!  While looking at the shorebirds we heard a red-naped sapsucker drumming behind us.  We weren't able to locate it, but this is the time of year they might be found in the trees below the parking lot.  There were still lots of western wood-peewees and a few yellow warblers.  An olive-sided flycatcher and two Wilson's warblers were nice, and it's always nice to see the great horned owls (we saw two today).  Two of the group saw a Brewer's sparrow and MerryLynn heard a lesser goldfinch.  The temperatures were moderate and there was a pleasant breeze so all in all it was a great walk.  We saw or heard 50 species.  Ginger