Chris Sloan and I considered these late June records as early fall birds.
There's a decent gap in occurrence of Willets between late May and 22 June. But
who knows!
Additional support for considering these birds southbound individuals is that
several satellite tracked long-billed curlews that breed in ID, WY, and MT are
already ON their wintering grounds in the Central Valley of Calif and one is
already in Mexico. A few more are on the way south too. Failed breeders leave
this early.
Link to map of tracked curlews in the project being led by my buddy Jay
Carlisle at the Intermountain Bird Observatory in Boise ID here:
https://schall11.github.io/curlew_vision/
Sadly one tracked bird was shot and killed this week south of Boise. Another
bird nearby went missing at the same time. One was adopted and named by
children at a local elementary school. People shooting prairie dogs and target
shooting will shoot at curlews since when you're in their territory, they come
at you screaming and calling and come in close (much like willets avocets, and
marbled godwits). Sadly, these birds almost certainly have young in the area.
They have done extensive outreach and have reduced shooting of curlews in some
areas but it's a never ending mission.
Cheers,
Scott Somershoe
Littleton CO
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 24, 2017, at 8:58 AM, sparverius <sparverius@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I agree with late Western Willet. In addition to Mikes notes, bill appears
longer and thinner than expected for Eastern and coverts look like a
partially molted mix of basic and alternate feathers.
This is one of several splits (and some lumps) that AOS is considering with
results to be announced in July.
Dean Edwards
Knoxville, TN
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 24, 2017, at 10:02 AM, Michael Todd <birder1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Charles,
Thanks for the message, be good to get others opinions, but the bird looks
like an (expected) Western Willet to me on both structure and plumage. The
back is fairly dark but Westerns get darker as the summer progresses.
Michael Todd
Jackson, TN
On Saturday, June 24, 2017 7:51 AM, Charles Murray <dro1945@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I'm still trying to figure out how to post my photos of the Willet seen at
Blythe Ferry in Rhea County yesterday. Thanks to those who offered
suggestions as to how to do it. A photo of the Willet has been posted on the
Facebook group East Tennessee Birding by "Red Wolfe."
Charles Murray
Birchwood, TN
From: Charles Murray <dro1945@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2017 10:17 PM
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Charles Murray
Subject: Re: Willet at Blythe Ferry Landing ; No Laughing Gulls
I have only had a Nikon P900 for a couple of weeks, and I don't know how to
send photos to my cell phone or computer so that I could send the photos to
tn-bird. I think it should be possible to send photos directly from the
camera to a website, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. Another
birder also made photos. Perhaps he will read this and send his photos.
Charles Murray
Birchwood, TN
From: tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <tn-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf
of Charles Murray <dro1945@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2017 5:08 PM
To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [TN-Bird] Willet at Blythe Ferry Landing ; No Laughing Gulls
A Willet was seen standing on the fishing pier at the Rhea County Blythe
Ferry landing about 12:30 pm today. It allowed another photographer and I to
get close enough for photos, but it disappeared about 12:45 pm after both of
us had walked away.
I searched the the Chickamauga Dam area, Booker T. Washington State Park,
and a couple of sites further north on the Tennessee River looking for the
Laughing Gulls reported yesterday, but I did not see them.
Charles Murray
Birchwood, TN
