Shorebirds at Bradford Beach in Milwaukee Wisconsin on September 18, 2015

I made a run to the Milwaukee lakefront this morning to see what if any shorebirds were present. My first stop was Bradford Beach and some shorebirds were hanging out. Last nights storms that came through made for some change as it has been slow so far this fall at the lakefront. Just common shorebirds were present, Semipalmated Plovers, Sanderlings, and a couple Least Sandpipers but it made for a fun couple of hours watching them feed and whatever else shorebirds do. At one point about 10 shorebirds stopped feeding around me, laid motionless in the sand for about 5 minutes. I looked around numerous times to see what had them on edge but never saw anything. Obviously something could have been sitting up in a tree watching, possibly a Peregrine Falcon. Things went back to normal in a few minutes and they went right back to feeding like nothing ever happened. Later, three of us Bruce, Jym and I birded for awhile, it was a nice morning to be out with overcast skies, light winds and cool temps. Images were taken on September 18, 2015.

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling with food

Sanderling getting the food

Least Sandpiper all fluffed up!

Least Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper with the food

Least Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper getting the food

Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Plover on the move!

Semipalmated Plover hunkered down as a hawk, falcon etc must be in the area.

Semipalmated Plover hunkered down as a hawk, falcon etc must be in the area.

Semipalmated Plover hunkered down as a hawk, falcon etc must be in the area.

Sanderling hunkered down as a hawk, falcon etc must be in the area.

Sanderling hunkered down as a hawk, falcon etc must be in the area.

Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Plover eyeing up the food

Semipalmated Plover with food in bill

Semipalmated Plover with food in bill

Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Plover