Pere Marquette This Morning

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December 14 Email:
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I didn't want Josh Kamp to belittle me for not chasing Jeff Timmer's Purple Sandpipers, so I detoured on my way to college early this morning and subjected myself to a pre-sunrise endurance test on the pier in search of this bird.  First off, my britches got soaked to the mid-thigh, though this wasn't as bad as the half-fledged tsunami that basically knocked me off the pier 3 weeks ago.  I found a single Purple Sandpiper exactly halfway between "the elbow" and the shore on the north side of the pier.  Read my eBird checklist for more details.  I forgot my binoculars and camera, so all I have to show for this bird is a dusky Tracfone image (I'm not even sure you can see the bird).

There was a Horned Grebe visiting the Purple Sandpiper, but there were no good gulls, no Red-necked Grebe, and I was still missing 3 Purple Sandpipers.

eBird checklist:  http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S9333849

Good Birding,

Zachary DeBruine

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