[obol] Re: RBA: Long-toed Stint at Nehalem Sewage Pond--a few more notes

From: David Bailey <davidcbaileyoregon@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 21:35:05 -0700
Here are a few more notes about my encounter with the possible Long-toed
Stint this morning at the Nehalem Sewage Ponds.

First, I forgot to mention that while I was getting out of my car to go
bird the site I saw a small flock of about 20 peeps flying across the SE
pond headed west. I presume they went to roost in one of the areas of the
ponds closed to public access. There are probably quite a few shorebirds
scattered around the pond exteriors that we won't see due to the access
restrictions. We used to have access to the entire facility....but perhaps
if one stays around the ponds for some time some of the hidden birds might
move to more viewable regions of the ponds.

There had be heavy showers over the course of the morning. Many of the
immature gulls at the ponds had what looked like waterlogged plumage. The
possible stint may have had some effects of excess rain on its plumage as
well. The plumage struck me as very worn--more so than I would have
expected for a full adult a this time of the year. It occurred to me at the
time that the bird may have been in only its second calendar year and have
retained plumage. I have seen over-summering Western Sandpipers that have
shown these warn plumage characters and we have assumed them to be 2nd year
birds with retained juvenile flight feathers and coverts. There are some
pictures at this web link
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tracy.mann/LTSArticle.htm of a 2nd -year
Long-toed Stint that share some of the characteristics of the bird I saw,
but these pictures depict a bird a few months later in the season and with
some new basic plumage coming in--that I did not see on the bird today.

 I noticed hardly any projection of the primaries on the bird I saw today.
I also noted that the bird had some streaking on sides of the breast, but
no thick streaking with a distinct boarder to belly like a Pectoral
Sandpiper shows--It crossed my mind briefly in the field that I might be
looking at an extremely small female Pectoral, as that species shows marked
sexual dimorphism in size, but the the breast plumage was wrong and the
bird was not nearly big enough to be that species. The bill was too short
for Pectoral as well. The bill was similar in size and shape to a Least
Sandpiper, but perhaps a bit longer and a bit less attenuated (pointy). It
had was slightly decurved. Th belly flanks and underparts appeared white
and without streaks or spots form what I could see.

I will walk around the ponds again tomorrow after my morning survey in the
nearby Clatsop State Forest and report back then.

Jeff is correct the gate the ponds is locked around 5pm each day and opened
by 8 or maybe earlier. I will try to find out for sure tomorrow. I believe
the gate is opened during the days on the weekends, but I will check on
that too.

David

David C. Bailey
Manzanita, Oregon for the summer
[obol] Re: RBA: Long-toed Stint at Nehalem Sewage Pond--a few more notes

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