[EBB Sightings] Pectoral Sandpipers at Coyote Hills

This morning around 10:15, I located the Pectoral Sandpipers seen  
last night by Stephanie Floyd and first reported by Kathy Robertson.  
There are now four birds in the same area of the Main Marsh.

Finding them minutes after locking the car, I observed them for  
around twenty minutes as they foraged near a group of Least  
Sandpipers. A Northern Harrier flew over and spooked the birds. All  
took off--the leasts in one tight flock, the pectorals in their own  
small group. I tracked them to the northern side of the marsh. After  
walking north, I was unable to relocate the pectorals, but after  
backtracking saw them fly again, this time to the northeast side of  
the marsh.

Here is how to find the area that the birds seem to prefer: Park in  
the main lot in front of the visitor center. Walk back to the  
entrance to the lot, before the road divides. East of the road, you  
have a choice to take a boardwalk to your right or a gravel trail to  
your left. Walk down the gravel trail. On the right, you will see a  
mudflat patterned with deep crevices. As soon as you have a good  
view, scan the mudflat. The Pectoral Sandpipers were feeding within  
the deep crevices, disappearing one moment, reappearing another. I  
was about twenty feet away from the birds, which were not spooked by  
the occasional bike that came by.

Pat Bacchetti and I birded this same area midday on Sunday, but saw  
only Killdeer and Least Sandpipers.

Judith Dunham
Berkeley