https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_XWH4krBe0
To the Students of Three Sisters Adventist Christian School, thank you so much for the Surprise party and especially for the journal of your favorite bird of the week. I will cherish this and place it on the shelf with all of my bird books. The consensus is that you want to continue the challenge of identifying birds via Bird of the Week so I thought I would ramp it up a bit this week. I purposely stayed away from shore birds last year because they generally require a lot more scrutiny and skill to identify. Throughout the year they go through at least two and sometimes three plumage changes. They have a springtime breading plumage which is usually much fresher and more colorful. They they molt and change to winter plumage which is usually much duller than their breeding plumage. Many of them we refer to as peeps because they are small and have very similar plumage.
So lets review the ID principles because they are very important for separating these little birds:
Things to look for when identifying a shore bird.
1 Size. When they are by themselves, it is usually a bit hard to determine the exact size but when they are with other shorebirds it can be a factor in separating them
2 Shape, is it round, is it more elongated things like that
3 How does it hold itself, ie does it stand up tall or does it hold itself more flat
4 Bill, shape, color, and size. Is it straight, curved up or down, is it thin or thick
5 overall pattern and color. This can be very subjective but you are looking for streaking, large shapes or small patterns, is there a cap on the head, is there any streaks through the eyes or above or below the eye.
6 Wing length. When the bird folds its wings, the wing tips of the primary feathers lie near the tail. Some stop at the base of the tail and this would be called short primary projection. Some extend to the middle of the tail and this would be called medium primary projection. Then some extend beyond the tip of the tail and this is call long primary projection.
7 Legs. Are they short, medium, or long. What color are they. The feet are usually hard to see and most shorebirds have similar shaped feet but some have webbed feet so that can enter in occasionally
8 Tail, is it long or short, does it have barring or bands or is it just plain.
9 Call. If you are lucky, you might hear it call and like other birds the call can be distinctive and in many cases give you an identity by itself.
These are many of the points you will need to observe to get the identity of a shore bird.
This week's bird shows up in spring and fall in Oregon as it migrates to and from it's breeding ground in the northern Arctic. I should note that this video and photos were taken at Redmond Sewage Ponds last week on Sept 6. Most of these birds migrate further east through the plains so they are uncommon in Oregon but some show up every year. Western and Least Sandpipers are common peeps found in Oregon and there will often be from one to a half dozen of this bird of the week in with them during peak migration. In the video you hear some Killdeer and blackbirds chirping in the background but this bird is silent. Most of the time, shorebirds are silent on the ground and call in flight. In the first part of the video, there is a Least Sandpiper feeding with this bird. As you can see, our bird of the week is somewhat larger and this will help with ID. Also, primary projection will help separate this bird. Good luck, I will be interested in hearing what you come up with and see if all your hard work this past year will lead you to the correct ID. Don't be discouraged if it is tough and you don't get it, Ornithologist find shorebirds among their greatest challenges and they don't always get it right. I think you might get this one.
Happy birding,
I will include some good stills along with the video.
To the Students of Three Sisters Adventist Christian School, thank you so much for the Surprise party and especially for the journal of your favorite bird of the week. I will cherish this and place it on the shelf with all of my bird books. The consensus is that you want to continue the challenge of identifying birds via Bird of the Week so I thought I would ramp it up a bit this week. I purposely stayed away from shore birds last year because they generally require a lot more scrutiny and skill to identify. Throughout the year they go through at least two and sometimes three plumage changes. They have a springtime breading plumage which is usually much fresher and more colorful. They they molt and change to winter plumage which is usually much duller than their breeding plumage. Many of them we refer to as peeps because they are small and have very similar plumage.
So lets review the ID principles because they are very important for separating these little birds:
Things to look for when identifying a shore bird.
1 Size. When they are by themselves, it is usually a bit hard to determine the exact size but when they are with other shorebirds it can be a factor in separating them
2 Shape, is it round, is it more elongated things like that
3 How does it hold itself, ie does it stand up tall or does it hold itself more flat
4 Bill, shape, color, and size. Is it straight, curved up or down, is it thin or thick
5 overall pattern and color. This can be very subjective but you are looking for streaking, large shapes or small patterns, is there a cap on the head, is there any streaks through the eyes or above or below the eye.
6 Wing length. When the bird folds its wings, the wing tips of the primary feathers lie near the tail. Some stop at the base of the tail and this would be called short primary projection. Some extend to the middle of the tail and this would be called medium primary projection. Then some extend beyond the tip of the tail and this is call long primary projection.
7 Legs. Are they short, medium, or long. What color are they. The feet are usually hard to see and most shorebirds have similar shaped feet but some have webbed feet so that can enter in occasionally
8 Tail, is it long or short, does it have barring or bands or is it just plain.
9 Call. If you are lucky, you might hear it call and like other birds the call can be distinctive and in many cases give you an identity by itself.
These are many of the points you will need to observe to get the identity of a shore bird.
This week's bird shows up in spring and fall in Oregon as it migrates to and from it's breeding ground in the northern Arctic. I should note that this video and photos were taken at Redmond Sewage Ponds last week on Sept 6. Most of these birds migrate further east through the plains so they are uncommon in Oregon but some show up every year. Western and Least Sandpipers are common peeps found in Oregon and there will often be from one to a half dozen of this bird of the week in with them during peak migration. In the video you hear some Killdeer and blackbirds chirping in the background but this bird is silent. Most of the time, shorebirds are silent on the ground and call in flight. In the first part of the video, there is a Least Sandpiper feeding with this bird. As you can see, our bird of the week is somewhat larger and this will help with ID. Also, primary projection will help separate this bird. Good luck, I will be interested in hearing what you come up with and see if all your hard work this past year will lead you to the correct ID. Don't be discouraged if it is tough and you don't get it, Ornithologist find shorebirds among their greatest challenges and they don't always get it right. I think you might get this one.
Happy birding,
I will include some good stills along with the video.
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| In this picture the bird of the week is in the center with three Least Sandpipers and one Western Sandpiper on the far right. |
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| Bird of the Week eating some sort of red bug |
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| Another view |
So we have several guesses!
ReplyDeleteNathaniel thinks it is a Black-Bellied Plover.
Savannah thinks it is a Little Stint.
Angelina thinks it is a Pectoral Sandpiper.
Lily thinks it is a Semipalmated Sandpiper.
Summer thinks it is a White Rumped Sandpiper.
Kelsey, Shilah and Davied think it is a Sanderling.
So they all worked on their own for this one! Some never came up with a guess in the amount of time I gave them. Whoever gets it right gets 5 bonus points in Science so they are curious as to who if any got it correct!
Shorebirds are tough, back to the bird books, It's not a Plover, it's not a Stint, It is a Sandpiper but not any of the guesses above. Angelina's guess might be the closest in that I think this bird is similar to a Pectoral. So you have eliminated quite a few possibilities, the next round might be easier.
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