It’s a sunny Sunday afternoon. I decide to try to find the Big Muddy National Fish & Wildlife Refuge between Creve Coeur Lake and the Missouri River, since a lot of birds I haven’t seen yet have been reported there in this savannah/meadow/marshy/something habitat. The coordinates for the “Big Muddy NFWR–Howard Bend Unit” hotspot take me to… an Amazon warehouse parking lot.
I’m not sure if I’m in the right place. There’s plenty of parking and a trail next to the parking lot, but no refuge signage. Still, there’s no one at the warehouse and no one seems to mind my presence. Right in front of me, perched on a wire over the trail, are two Northern Rough-winged Swallows (#147). These are probably the same kind of birds I saw the previous day along the greenway, but here I can hear them. More importantly, there’s close enough – and still enough – that I can tell that they don’t have the front bands that would indicate the other brownish swallow candidate, the Bank Swallow.
Norther Rough-Winged Swallow
I head north up the trail, seeing more swallows darting around overhead, but I quickly come to a dead-end. The good news is there are signs. The bad news is they say “end of public access” and something about being prohibited to go on federal lands. So I head south. Merlin is picking up an Eastern Meadowlark in that direction anyway. I quickly find it perched on the wire, clearing seeing its yellow and black patterns and large pointy beak (#148).
Eastern Meadowlark
Suddenly a sparrow flies across the path, landing on a stalk and staying in sight. At first I assume it’s a Song Sparrow, but Merlin thinks it sounds like a Savannah Sparrow. That’s the one known for the yellow eyebrow, and yes, it has one! A Savannah Sparrow! (#149)
Savannah Sparrow
Farther along, I see my first Dickcissel of the year, also perched on a wire. I’m not too familiar with this bird yet, and it’s easy for me to mix them up with the meadowlarks, since they both have yellows and browns and blacks and they’re both perching here on wires, but eventually I realize that the beak is the quickest distinguishing indicator – the meadowlark’s is long and pointy; the dickcissel’s is short like a finch or sparrow.
I come to a shallow pool, and it’s filled with shorebirds. They’re close enough that they should be identifiable, but I’m not equipped to figure them out – there’s no obvious candidates like Black-necked Stilts among them – and they’re far enough away that my pictures are not conclusive. There are a couple larger birds that resemble larger versions of a solitary sandpiper that might have been Lesser Yellowlegs, but also possibly Greater Yellowlegs. There are a bunch of smaller ones that might been Least Sandpipers, or something similar. Oh well. I do see (and hear) the Killdeer that came through, as well as a stunning Bald Eagle that suddenly flies by, low and overhead.
I was pretty excited to get three lifers despite not finding the actual refuge and despite not being prepared to identify the tricky shorebirds. Maybe I’ll figure out the spot some other time…