A molting Long-billed Dowitcher photographed on May 15 can be viewed at this link: http://www.pbase.com/quetzal/image/125102038 . A comment about "small, gray dowitchers" in spring - Stilt Sandpipers in alternate plumage should also be considered.
Nick Komar Fort Collins CO ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] Sent: Monday, May 31, 2010 1:36:42 PM GMT -07:00 US/Canada Mountain Dowitchers, like many/most species of shorebirds exhibit, somewhat, delayed plumage maturation. That is, the one-year olds usually/often don't achieve "full" alternate plumage (more on that below) in their first summer. In fact, many/most don't wind up breeding with many of those not going all the to the breeding grounds. Thus, late in spring migration for particular species, a sizable percentage of individuals are one-year olds and can look quite different from older birds. In dowitchers, they tend not to get much red underneath, mostly replacing random scapulars and wing coverts. They might appear smaller due to body-condition differences, as, again, many won't be going all the way to the breeding grounds, so don't require good fat loads to get them through the lean conditions upon arrival at such northern and cold locales. Finally, even among adult shorebirds, many individuals never replace all of their basic-plumage upperparts in a given pre-alternate molt. More usually, the upperparts are a mix of dull basic plumage and dark-centered and bright alternate feathers. Enjoy, Tony Leukering Villas, NJ --------------------------------- Birding on the eastern plains a week or so ago I came upon a flock of long-billed dowitchers. At that point it had begun to rain and the wind picked up, so I didn't really have a (comfortable) opportunity to carefully observe the birds. However, it immediately became clear upon a quick inspection that there were two "groupings" of birds in the flock; of about twenty total birds, there were around seventeen that were "normal" looking ruddy red long-bills. With them there were three birds that were slightly smaller, and I assumed that these were short-bills based on size alone. As I mentioned, conditions were not ripe for careful examination. However, there was one other factor that caught my attention- the three smaller birds showed not only a difference in size, but they were a much plainer gray color than the bigger birds- they appeared to be in more what I would call a basic plumage....Norm Lewis -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
