FYI--to confirm a trajectory: Broome Co folks, on Bluewing list, reported more than 8 Semi-palmated Sandpipers (and more with time) as well as 6 Dunlin and 4 Semi-palmated Plovers at the Tri-Cities airport this morning.
anne On May 24, 2013, at 7:18 PM, Jeff Gerbracht wrote: > After work. I stopped by the compost piles. 4 Dunlin. A few Least Sandpiper= > s and 24 Semi Sands. Biggest count of Semi Sandpipers I've seen in Tompkin= > s County. They seem to have appeared en mass today > Jeff > > On Friday, May 24, 2013, Mark Chao wrote: > Wanting to ride our wave of recent luck a little longer, Tilden and I > returned to Myers Park in Lansing on Friday afternoon at about 4:30 PM. We > don’t think we saw anything particularly rare, but the birding was fun and > challenging. > > > > Immediately upon arrival, Tilden exclaimed with surprise and had his optics > up in a split-second. Then he paused, relaxed, and pointed out a CASPIAN > TERN, a species we haven’t seen at rest so far this year. I shared a little > of his shock to see that big red bill after scanning gull after gull these > past couple days on that beach! > > > > Again we saw two SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, and by this time the DUNLIN contingent > had swelled to at least four birds. I could swear that I also saw a > yellowlegs fly to the tip of the spit (big, slim gray shorebird with a white > tail) but I couldn’t find it there a few seconds later. > > > > Even more puzzling were 15 little shorebirds that I think were SEMIPALMATED > SANDPIPERS. They all had black legs. Their bills all were completely > straight but also quite sharply pointed. Upperparts were much more brown > than gray (though not brightly rufous), with a lot of dark-centered feathers. > All had very fine streaks on the breast. My instincts were nagging me the > whole time that they were Least Sandpipers that somehow all showed dark legs > (I wondered whether the extreme cold had anything to do with it). In the > end, though, I concluded that analytic ID should trump impressions in this > case, largely because I haven’t closely studied Semipalmated Sandpipers in > breeding plumage, nor gotten a very good sense of variation in bill shape > with this species. The field marks do seem to add up, on the whole. (I feel > certain that these birds weren’t larger Calidris species, nor rare stints. > They did not have white rumps.) > > > > Mark Chao > > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- > > > -- > Jeff Gerbracht > Lead Application Developer > Neotropical Birds, Breeding Bird Atlas, eBird > Cornell Lab of Ornithology > 607-254-2117 > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
