Shorebird Quiz
Ok, here’s today’s quiz photo!!! How many can you ID? Taken at Hornsby last night. Hint: there are 6 species.
Molting Adult vs 1st Fall Lesser Yellowlegs
Here’s a comparison between a molting adult (right) and a 1st fall Lesser yellowlegs. Notice the immaculate patterns on the back of the left bird (juve). The adult’s alternate feathers are worn and dull in the coverts and scapulars. You can see emerging basic mantle feathers on the adult which are gray and large and…
“Frosty” Shorebirds
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…
Lake Balmorhea
Had 13 shorebird species at Lake Balmorhea this morning. American Avocet, Less Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Snowy Plover, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Long-billed Curlew, Upland Sandpiper, Black-necked stilt, Solitary Sandpiper, Wilson’s Phalarope, and Western Sandpiper. Other birds of interest were: an early Ring-billed gull, Tricolored Heron, Black terns, Forster’s Tern, Neotropic cormorant and Black and…
Shorebird Mystery Bird
Ok, here’s a mystery bird for the current shorebird class. (if you’re not in the class feel free to email me if you figure out the answer). I recently emailed a demonstration of how to take a stab at identifying distant shorebirds in bad photographs. Here are some really bad photographs (distant digi-scoped). But if…
Hornsby Shorebirds
15 Species of shorebird at Hornsby this morning. Here’s a Quiz bird for Shorebird class.
Lake Buchanan Cedar Point
Spent 3.5 hours at Cedar Point on Lake Buchanan this morning. 40 species total including 5 Tri-colored herons and a Bushtit. 10 species of shorebirds including 3 new ones for the fall shorebird season: Marbled Godwit, Black-bellied Plover and Greater Yellowlegs. Conditions look pretty good there for shorebirds. I had 5 flocks of peeps fly…
Good News/Bad News
Good news/bad news from my first trip to Hornsby during fall migration. Good: Fall migration is here!!! Good: lots of floating mud habitat at Hornsby. Good: Lots of shorebirds — 1000 plus I estimated. Good: 9 species of shorebird. Good: temp is manageable from 6:30-10:00am or so. Good: lots of Stilt and whistle duck chicks….
Cedar Point Lake Buchanan
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…
Cedar Point Lake Buchanan
Spent 3.5 hours at Cedar Point on Lake Buchanan this morning. 40 species total including 5 Tri-colored herons and a Bushtit. 10 species of shorebirds including 3 new ones for the fall shorebird season: Marbled Godwit, Black-bellied Plover and Greater Yellowlegs. Conditions look pretty good there for shorebirds. I had 5 flocks of peeps fly…