LINTON — A bird known as a curlew sandpiper that breeds in Siberia has delighted birdwatchers by making a rare stop in Indiana.
The Herald-Times reports Indianapolis bird enthusiast Ryan Sanderson spotted the bird in late May at the Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area. He alerted Bloomington birder Lee Sterrenburg, who posted the news to a statewide birding email list.
Several hundred sandpipers, plovers and other shorebirds were also present in the mudflats at the wildlife area about 35 miles southwest of Bloomington where the curlew sandpiper was spotted.
Curlew sandpipers have been documented in Indiana only three or four times before, including a possible sighting at Goose Pond last year.
The species nests in Siberia and winters off the coast of Africa.
