Gary Johnson, Paul Habiger and I birded 4-Rivers CA and Schell Osage CA today. Although there are areas of mudflat and sheet water at both the east and west units of 4-Rivers and at Schell, which appear to be good shorebird habitat, our shorebird list was small. There were a few Least, Semi and Pectoral Sandpipers at both the east and west units of 4-Rivers,and quite a few spotties at both the west unit and at Schell. That was about it except for Killdeers.

We spent quite a bit of time with the cormorants at the DU unit of 4-rivers and finally decided to count one bird that was significantly smaller than two nearby Double-cresteds. I thought I briefly made out the white bordered V-shaped gape of another. In general, however, the birds were just too far to see field marks at mid-day. Bottom line: We don't doubt Doug Willis' report of 7 birds but can only corroborate it to the extent described above.

We did have 1 adult Mississippi Kite at the west unit. We also saw about 120 Cattle Egrets by a pond along the route from the east unit to the DU unit.

It was glorious day. We ended with 70 species.

Bob Fisher
Independence, MO
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