American Avocets (click to see the larger version)

Continuing the uncommon shorebird theme from this summer, 2 American Avocets were on the public beach on September 1 (the public beach is the portion of the beach west of and outside the Dunes, which are fenced off and protected). These are the first American Avocets recorded at Montrose since late June. By September of 2019, we had 3 sightings, 2 in July and 1 in August.

On a related note, the fluddle has disappeared. The fluddle is the pool of water on the beach that shorebirds use for feeding and resting. Without the fluddle we won’t see as great a variety of shorebirds this fall. The good news is that the fluddle reforms after heavy rain or when strong northeast winds push water onto the beach.

For more information about shorebirds at Montrose, see the Shorebirds section of the What to See page.