Tricky
Briefly immortal
Ed Forum birdwatching 2008
- Thread starter Kotatsu
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- birds birdwatching
Jeff Corey
New York Skeptic
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2001
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But one good tern deserves another.
EHocking
Penultimate Amazing
Well, we're looking at booking trip back to Oz to flesh out the Forum lis.... er, visit family. I'll drop you a note when I firm up the trip. In the meantime, work and pleasure may help add a couple of African countries. I'm peeved with Mercutio's post, we'd hoped to have added that archipelago to 2008 - looks like it's now going to be 2009.
Oh and I got the latest list from Kotatsu last night - so being worked on, hopefully tonight for the lists at least.
A fun morning for me... had to bring the car to the shop, so as I biked home, I stopped by the park where I saw the seagulls earlier. It was low tide, so there were some waders about. Green Herons, Great Blue Herons, and Great Egret (I think):
Oh, yeah, and a Belted Kingfisher a bit out of focus:
But, just as I was warned, it starts getting difficult when it comes to sandpiper-ish things... [next post]
Oh, yeah, and a Belted Kingfisher a bit out of focus:
But, just as I was warned, it starts getting difficult when it comes to sandpiper-ish things... [next post]
Ok, it's a lousy shot, but it looks like this guy has a very distinctive ring around his eye:
Different shot, same guy, same ring:
Same guy, different view--especially the pattern on the back feathers.
Those features lead me to suspect "Solitary Sandpiper". My book says we are out of their major range, though.
Different shot, same guy, same ring:
Same guy, different view--especially the pattern on the back feathers.
Those features lead me to suspect "Solitary Sandpiper". My book says we are out of their major range, though.
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have you seen the pictures from galapagos? Wow.
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121243
ETA: Mercutio already linked. Missed the post, sorry.
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121243
ETA: Mercutio already linked. Missed the post, sorry.
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Kotatsu
Phthirapterist
I'm still not very good at American waders (but I am learning!), but I'd say juvenile Spotted Sandpiper Actitic macularia. The second picture suggests that it has a lighter tone to the middle of the throat, surrounded by two darker patches. In the first picture, this seems almost like a darker band across the chest, suggesting that it's started it's moult to first winter plumage. Going into total speculation territory, it seems to me that one could argue that both the first and the third picture might show that the tail extends beyond the tips of the wings, which would rule out Solitary. The beak colour is a bit off, but the bird seems to be very illuminated.
I'd appreciate if someone with more expertise on North American Waders gave this matter some thought, though.
sphenisc
Philosopher
- Joined
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- 6,235
The eye ring alone is sufficient to nail this as a Solitary, this a particularly well-marked individual.
Solitary and Spotted are pretty much the Nearctic equivalents of Green and Common sandpipers in the Palaearctic and many ofthe same rules ofthumb for distinguidhing them apply.
The squarish head is a good start but give away is the head and neck position.
Here are some pictures of Spotted Sandpipers
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...spotted+sandpiper&um=1&hl=en&safe=active&sa=N
The "comfortable" postion for spotteds is to (roughly) have the line of the back lined up with the eye and running through to the base of the bill. This short-necked hunched appearance can make it look a bit rodenty. When its head is raised, to check out the photographer, you can see the neck is stretched quite thinly.
On your bird the head is well above the line of the back and the neck is clearly relaxed and quite thick, the bird's not straining at all.
Also note how far short of the tail tip the wingtips fall in the link. Your bird seems to have them of equal length.
The incessant bobbing of spotteds is another good feature, solitaries will bob not as persistently.
I've seen Solitary near Ipswich so it isn't really out of range - particulary now that wader migration is underway.
Solitary and Spotted are pretty much the Nearctic equivalents of Green and Common sandpipers in the Palaearctic and many ofthe same rules ofthumb for distinguidhing them apply.
The squarish head is a good start but give away is the head and neck position.
Here are some pictures of Spotted Sandpipers
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...spotted+sandpiper&um=1&hl=en&safe=active&sa=N
The "comfortable" postion for spotteds is to (roughly) have the line of the back lined up with the eye and running through to the base of the bill. This short-necked hunched appearance can make it look a bit rodenty. When its head is raised, to check out the photographer, you can see the neck is stretched quite thinly.
On your bird the head is well above the line of the back and the neck is clearly relaxed and quite thick, the bird's not straining at all.
Also note how far short of the tail tip the wingtips fall in the link. Your bird seems to have them of equal length.
The incessant bobbing of spotteds is another good feature, solitaries will bob not as persistently.
I've seen Solitary near Ipswich so it isn't really out of range - particulary now that wader migration is underway.
Snowy Egret
Estuary, low tide, August 18, Wells, Maine US
You may already have filled the quota for Snowy Egrets but this one has lunch in his beak. The sand shrimp is tough to spot when they are in the water. They are nearly transparent and what color they have is sand color.
Estuary, low tide, August 18, Wells, Maine US
You may already have filled the quota for Snowy Egrets but this one has lunch in his beak. The sand shrimp is tough to spot when they are in the water. They are nearly transparent and what color they have is sand color.
EHocking
Penultimate Amazing
Well, I think I've caught up. I'll shoot Kotatsu the updated list to check for my errors, in the meantime the count is something like this.
Order Total :19
Family Total :91
Species Total :515
Species Total :518(inc. Subspecies)
Carrion/Hooded, Rock/Domestic Pigeon, Short-Eared/Hawaian Owl
Total Sightings:1609
Webpage update to be done Thursday night GMT.
Order Total :19
Family Total :91
Species Total :515
Species Total :518(inc. Subspecies)
Carrion/Hooded, Rock/Domestic Pigeon, Short-Eared/Hawaian Owl
Total Sightings:1609
Webpage update to be done Thursday night GMT.
Ok, I have a stupid question. The Order total is 19, as it is currently on the webpage... but when I count up the Orders on the sightings list, I get twenty-something, 22 or 23 or so. Are there some that don't count? How many Orders are there? Does anybody have a wish-list of what you'd like to see on the list?
(Yeah, some answers are probably googleable, but I thought I'd ask here anyway.)
(Yeah, some answers are probably googleable, but I thought I'd ask here anyway.)
Well, my non-expert opinion is that it is a perfect match, in my Audubon book, for a Semipalmated Plover.
(ETA--I think I have seen your camera, YoPopa--but what lens are you using?)
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You are probably right Merc. Much more likely the Semipalmated Plover based on location. I was using wikipedia for my reference but I neglected to check the range of the two.
You saw my old camera. This spring I picked up a Nikon D300. The lens is the Nikon AF-S DX VR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G-ED
.
You are welcome to come play with the lens on your camera if you come this far North. The VR feature seems to give better performance at the longer range of the lens. I have an older but faster (80-200 f2.8) lens that I am going to start taking a few of these same type shots with to see which I really like better on this camera.
Kotatsu
Phthirapterist
Hmmm. Well, I get 22 or so as well, and that seems reasonable. I don't know what's wrong in the excel sheet, but I'll check it tonight.
A wishlist would include the following things (I have limited myself to North American birds, as that's where you live):
- HUMMINGBIRDS!!!!!! There's like a bazillion of them over there, and we've got one measly one on the list.
- Wood Warblers and Vireos. Same here; lots of them around, but few on the list. I'm guessing that it's because they're not very spectacular (but google Wilsonia citrina, Mniotilta varia or Dendroica fusca...)
- For your own sake, you should go and have a look at gulls. Soon, it'll be wintertime, and it'll be harder to tell some of them apart, but there is still time to see both juvenile and adult plumages in most species.
- Loons. It should not be impossible, I think, to get all the world's species on the list, but that'd require someone on the West Coast to keep their eyes open for Pacific Loon Gavia pacifica and Yellow-billed Loon Gavia adamsii during winter. I have filled in all the European species (the Black-throated one Gavia arctica has been observed, but it not presently on the site), and it shouldn't be impossible to find a Common Loon Gavia immer somewhere on the East coast.
- Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps and Eared Grebe [/i]Podiceps nigricollis[/i] should be possible as well, I guess. I've missed all my reasonable chances of seeing the latter in Sweden, as I won't have time to go to Lake Hornborga again this year.
That's a good start that should keep you busy until I come back from London^^.
Kotatsu
Phthirapterist
I'm a bit busy with teaching, and haven't had time to do much with the lost today; I'll get back to it tomorrow when I have no teaching at all. In teh meantime:
Willet Catoptrophorus semipalmatus and Royal tern Sterna maxima?
Also, as neither of these, I believe, are on the lists, are your report eligible? That is, are the photos from this year? If so: where and when?
So I stand corrected^^. Thank you for some tips as well. I'll no doubt have use for them next year, if everything goes as planned.
Mercutio's opinion seems to be correct. The extremely short bill is a good sign; compare with this one, which is a Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula.
Willet Catoptrophorus semipalmatus and Royal tern Sterna maxima?
Also, as neither of these, I believe, are on the lists, are your report eligible? That is, are the photos from this year? If so: where and when?
So I stand corrected^^. Thank you for some tips as well. I'll no doubt have use for them next year, if everything goes as planned.
Mercutio's opinion seems to be correct. The extremely short bill is a good sign; compare with this one, which is a Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula.