[TN-Bird] Re: Eagle Bend Fish Hatchery
- From: Sharon Monett <sbm4him@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: TN-Bird Listserv <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 08:23:51 -0400
Thanks to all who responded with IDs/guesses/comments about the shorebirds
at Eagle Bend!
Several asked that I post the IDs, so they can tell if they were right or
not.Since the photos are all titled with the date and a number, I'm using
the number to identify which photo I'm referring to. If you go to the Eagle
Bend set on my flickr
pag<http://www.flickr.com/photos/24369838@N07/sets/72157635032397740/>e,
the list starts with the first photo you see.
1574: Least sandpiper seems to be the consensus.
1675: Spotted, maybe winter plumage?
1688: No guesses yet
1713: One guess for semipalmated sandpiper, one guess for Least.
1746: Consensus is Dowitcher; no one so far ventured a guess as to whether
it's short-billed or long-billed.
1758: Guesses have included Solitary or Yellowlegs. I was thinking Solitary
originally.
1781: Spotted
1814: No guesses given
1853: Guesses included Least, Semipalmated and Western. So far, Western
seems to be the consensus.
1858: Spotted
1969: Consensus is Pectoral
For the non-shore birds:
1984: Red-winged blackbirds. Maybe young? Maybe female? Maybe young
females? I had previous pictures of female rwbs that didn't seem to look
like this (but that was back in the spring, so different plumage, I guess?)
so I'd never have guessed that's what these were. Several though
meadowlark, which had been my initial thought until I realized the beak was
all wrong.
1987: Juvenile Starling. This was actually my initial thought because of
the beak. But again, just last week, I was at Eagle Bend and saw a MUCH
larger bird that looked TOTALLY different from this one that also turned
out to be a juvenile starling, so that threw me. Interesting how quickly,
and completely, their plumage can change.
Thanks again to everyone for their input. If I get further confirmations or
IDs on some that are still PBDKs, I'll give an update. (NOTE: PBDK is my
own designation for unknown birds--it stands for "Pretty Bird; Don't Know."
:D )
Sharon Monett
Knoxville, TN
On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 5:32 PM, Sharon Monett <sbm4him@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I spent a good chunk of the day on Friday, Aug. 9 at the Eagle Bend Fish
> Hatchery in Anderson County.
>
> I saw quite a few different shore birds. Unfortunately, I am an extreme
> novice when it comes to identifying birds, and shore birds (along with
> sparrows) are particularly challenging to me. I just cannot seem to figure
> out how to distinguish one from another, even with pictures. I'm more a
> bird photographer than a "birder" anyway (at least, I know more about
> photography than I do about birds!). I took pictures, but didn't get any
> really good ones--except of killdeer.
>
> I'm certain of the killdeer, which there were plenty of, as usual. I'm
> also certain that I saw at least three semipalmated plovers. Beyond
> that--I'm *fairly* sure that I saw a couple of spotted sandpipers, several
> solitarys and maybe a couple of least sandpipers.
>
> If anyone feels so inclined, you can go to my flickr set,
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/24369838@N07/sets/72157635032397740/ and
> help ID what the shore birds are (I didn't include the semipalmated plover
> or the killdeer, since I knew those for sure). There are also a couple of
> non-shore birds in the set that I don't know the ID for. I spent about two
> hours on the Cornell allaboutbirds website, trying to differentiate and ID
> the shore birds, before I gave up! Any tips on how to figure out how to ID
> these birds for a novice?
>
> Other than the shore birds, one thing of note was that I did NOT see, the
> entire time I was there (probably about 5 hours total) a single Great Egret
> or Great Blue Heron. However, I saw evidence that something had gotten
> ahold of, I believe, a Great Blue Heron. There wasn't much of it left, but
> a wing and the legs.
>
> I did see about 4 green herons. Also starlings, pigeons and maybe doves
> (can't really tell them apart either, from a distance anyway), Canada
> geese--at least 50, a single female Mallard, about 9 or 10 double-crested
> cormorants, a belted kingfisher, and a lot fewer swallows than on recent
> previous trips.
>
> Sharon Monett
> Knoxville, Knox Co.
>
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