Hornsby
13 Species of shorebirds at Hornsby this morning, plus first of season (for me) of these quackers.

13 Species of shorebirds at Hornsby this morning, plus first of season (for me) of these quackers.

Made a quick trip to check conditions at cedar point on lake buchanan this morning. Only had 2 killdeer and 4 very distant shorebirds. But the good news is conditions look pretty good for shorebirds later in the fall migration — we have shore!!! (meaning sand next to water). Had about 65 Great Egrets, a…
There’s a nice discussion of Pacific vs American Golden Plover on the “Advanced Bird ID” FB page. You’ll have to join that group to see the rest of post.
I came up with 113 species on Corpus FT (for my personal list).
Here’s a comparison of Semipalmated with a Least. So I think we can see actual black legs here on this sandpiper. It’s a short-winged bird; wings are just atop tail. Bill is short and pretty straight. Overall coloration is fairly pale, not brown. Baird’s and Least are brown-hued birds. Both also have a chest coloration…
Here’s a distant photo which illustrates how beneficial looking for paler hues can be. From Hornsby last night. These 2 Wilson’s Phalaropes really stick out. There’s also a really pale sandpiper to the left of Phalaropes which I did not notice at the time, but I’m thinking Semipalmated due to how “frosty” it looks compared…
This is a juvenile Green Heron from Hornsby this morning. It was hunting water bugs. The Green Heron was the first bird I identified by myself at age 10. In the 51 years between then and now I don’t think I’ve ever noticed a juvenile green Heron before.