Most of these birds will probably have left before you read this.

Solitary sandpipers are one of this week’s highlights. The other intriguing shorebird is the western willet.

It is September now — a new month and a new stage of avian migration.

It’s about time. We have been waiting for a few species of shorebirds that generally show up in August. Well, sure enough, here they are.

Potential reasons for this low productivity include human disturbance, predation and the weather.

The return of grasshopper sparrows at Katama this summer has been heralded by Island conservationists as a hopeful sign of ecological health.

Everything else eats insects at this time of the year, so why not a harrier?

Two weeks ago it was shearwaters, last week it was the brown booby and now it is a phalarope.

Unexpected is not an understatement. A brown booby is a pelagic species that some birders make special trips to the Dry Tortugas to see.

Long narrow wings and a fairly robust body, running along the water’s surface to become airborne, oceanic and a tube on top of their beaks to excrete excess salt. All are characteristics of shearwaters.