Date: 9/28/25 9:04 am From: <sshultz...> Subject: Buff-breasted Sandpiper - Brier Creek Res, Raleigh (Wake County) NC
Eddie Owens found a very rare for Wake County*** Buff-breasted Sandpiper this morning at Brier Creek Reservoir (Kings Pond) near RDU airport. Park on Nelson Road before the construction/no trespassing signs and follow the fisherpeople's trail that starts at the fire hydrant until you get to the broken off liquor bottle stuck on a tree branch*. The directions will actually make sense once you get there. The bird is on the flats between your location and the apparent location of the Angus Barn water tower. Be careful, as there is an ankle-breaker of a stump hole right on the trail as you approach the lake. Don't say I didn't warn you**.
Also Least, Pectoral, Solitary and Lesser Yellowlegs. You might see even more!
*I did not check to see what kind of liquor, but I suspect it's not that good. It was not Eagle Rare in any case, although that would be appropriate.
**I twisted my ankle in that hole on 1/1 of this year, and just recently stopped feeling it. Since two folks fell into it while we were there this morning, I want to make sure you avoid my pain.
***The actual number of Wake County records is sort of difficult to determine as eBird incorrectly assigns a number of Durham/Granville County records to Wake, but today's is probably one of just a handful of birds. The two reports I could find that are definitely Wake County is one from 8/31/1975 at Lake Raleigh and one from Ricky Davis 9/10/1998 that was noted as being in the Wake portion of Falls Lake. There have been a number of reports from Falls Lake as recently as 2009, but I am certain that a number of these birds were in Durham or Granville Counties (certain because some of those where "my" birds, and they definitely were in those counties and not Wake.) I believe the reason behind this is that some historical reports from The Chat's Briefs for the Files have been entered into eBird, but as "Falls Lake" spans three counties, it's a bit problematic. With shorebirds at Falls, the "juicy" mudflats and vast majority of birds are in Durham and Granville; the water has to get really low to have much in the way mud in Wake, but it does happen, and birds sometimes show up in marginal habitat.
