Shorebird migration begins

Following up on a report from Chris Gentes I headed over to the partially drained Paradise Pond this morning looking for some early season shorebirds.  Yesterday Chris had eight Least Sandpipers and a Solitary Sandpiper there.  This morning I had just a single Least Sandpiper and a Solitary Sandpiper plus a Green Heron, Great Blue Heron, five Hooded Mergansers and a family of vocal Belted Kingfishers.  A stop by there later in the day found the pond mostly filled back up so no shorebirds.  It is tough to find a good spot for shorebirds to stop in the valley this time of year with little in the way of mudflats available along the river or lakes and most every farm field green with crops.  We mainly have to wait until late summer once the crops are harvested to get a good chance to get shorebirds stopping by.