[obol] Fern Ridge: basic plumaged dowitcher
- From: Jason A Wilder <Jason.Wilder@xxxxxxx>
- To: "obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2014 18:14:20 +0000
I'm a regular summer visitor to the Eugene area, and typically spend some time
birding around Fern Ridge while here. This morning, 9 July, near the Royal Ave
platform I found a fully basic-plumaged Dowitcher. I'm a little perplexed by
this plumage at this time of year (although I admittedly have lots yet to learn
about dowitchers!). It seems early for this to be a bird that has molted away
from alternate plumage. Is it more likely to be a first-summer bird that never
molted into alternate? The bird looks fairly long-billed, but is there any way
to know definitively if this bird is of the Long-billed or Short-billed variety
(it was silent, by the way)?
I have some poor digiscoped images here:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjYURA1K
In general shorebird numbers were higher today than they were on my two
previous visits since 4 July and included a few hundred Western and Least
Sandpipers, ~25 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, ~30 Long-billed
Dowitchers, 1 American Avocet, 2 Black-necked Stilts, and 2 Wilson's
Phalaropes. On the lake near the "Pelican Island" there was a pair of
Canvasback, a Bonaparte's Gull and a Forster's Tern.
Jason Wilder
Flagstaff, AZ
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