Sunday, August 30, 2009

The shorebird education continues


Another trip to Great Meadows to observe sandpipers et al. Really, I should not be trying this myself. I should just stand next to the scope-equipped veterans and wait until they see something (more the guide/apprentice route than the autodidact route I've been taking). But some things are (kind of) falling into place.

I'm guessing lesser yellowlegs above. And solitary sandpiper below.


This one I'm taking as a juvenile short-billed dowitcher, though I think some people thought it was a snipe. [UPDATE: It's a snipe]


But this one, I don't know. Looks like a least sandpiper, but I swear it was bigger. A little decurve on the bill, but no breast band, so does that rule out Baird's (which is what I was hoping for).

By the way, is it just me or are the sandpipers generally getting really fat? (I've definitely noticed this about the swallows). Long migrations ahead, I guess.

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