Ferris Akel has put up an edited YouTube video from our live-streamed Virtual Shorebird Walk last Saturday (29 Aug). Search for this title: Knox-Marsellus Marsh With Dave Nutter, 8/29/2020 (HD)
Or use this link: https://youtu.be/ZNVNXCge18I At 1:25:13 it’s trimmed down to about half the original live-stream (which was 2:52:37) to omit lots of searching, walking, and times when the wind shook the camera or obliterated our voices just too much. Shorebirds include: Killdeer Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Black-bellied Plover Least Sandpiper Red Knot Stilt Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Semipalmated Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Non-shorebirds include: Great Egret Caspian Tern Mallard Peregrine Falcon Northern Harrier Bald Eagle Trumpeter Swan Blue-winged Teal Northern Pintail with Green-winged Teal Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull At 6:30 you get to hear me say something wrong, that the Black-bellied Plover in view might be a breeding plumage female or transition male, whereas actually it closely matches Sibley’s depiction of a breeding plumage male. I knew that females had less black than males, and I was surprised (although I should not have been) by how broad the white band was between the breast and the back, making the black look less than I expected. You will also see us struggle with Greater v Lesser Yellowlegs. Viewing the video, many of them now look more obvious than they seemed at the time. Shape and behavior are a couple of the most useful shorebird ID clues. Yet you will see me override these factors when the pattern and color point to something else: A group of long-legged shorebirds was resting in deep water, and they were joined by a smaller shorebird who swam among them. Its shape and actions resembled those of a phalarope, but the plumage did not match any phalarope plumages that I knew of, and instead pointed to Semipalmated Sandpiper, which is what I called it. Looking at the video, I later doubted my ID and asked Jay McGowan to also have a look, and he agreed with my original call: it’s a Semipalmated Sandpiper. In thinking about the resemblance, I recalled that “semipalmated” refers to this sandpiper’s half-webbed feet. It is adapted for swimming when necessary, and I think that the act of swimming puts it into the same posture as phalaropes when they swim. In that same group of resting shorebirds, try to pick out Stilt Sandpipers with their long, slightly curved bills, and scaly back and wings, compared to Lesser Yellowlegs with straight bills and spotted back and wings. Enjoy! - - Dave Nutter -- 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/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
