Odd Pigment Least Sandpiper
Here’s another odd coloration on a Least Sandpiper from Hornsby yesterday. I had a similar one last year. The least in the back is more normal colored. The front one looked almost red in person.
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Saw some rain coming yesterday so headed to Hornsby for another shorebird and migrant fix!! Lots of White-rumped Sand, a flyby of 3 Black-bellied Plovers, Semipalm plovers, beautiful breeding plumage phalaropes, Dowitchers, and Stilt sands and the first time to ever see all 5 peeps on the same day!! Also lots of wet swallows, migrating…
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…
Shorebirds Size in Field Guides
I thought this exchange in the Shorebird class might be of interest to B3. First Lance’s question, then my response. From Lance Felber (2020 Shorebird student) I noticed while looking at Least Sandpiper in a couple of different guides a fairly large discrepancy in lengths listed. So I looked at Least, Semi, and Western in…
Shorebird Scorecard 2023
Here’s my Shorebird Scorecard for the last 5 weeks. 21 species at Hornsby and 34 of 38 regularly occurring species overall. Did pretty well at Hornsby: over 8 visits during April and May this year, I averaged 11.9 species/visit. Best birds were Upland Sandpipers on every visit, Hudsonian Godwits on 2 visits and 5 Ruddy…
Shorebird Class Field Trip to Corpus 2022
What a great trip to the coast with the 2022 TAS Shorebird Class!!! Highlights for me were the Aplomado falcons and Elegant Tern (life bird!!), as well as the good company of bird nerds !!