Outdoor Ontario

Photography => Ontario Birds => Topic started by: aviator on December 12, 2010, 11:23:04 AM

Title: Some shorebirds CA & friends
Post by: aviator on December 12, 2010, 11:23:04 AM: (http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/9433/p1000770a.jpg) (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000770a.jpg)
(http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/7829/p1000773zl.jpg) (http://img716.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000773zl.jpg)
(http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/7275/p1000784.jpg) (http://img502.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000784.jpg)
(http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/8162/p1010263v.jpg) (http://img34.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010263v.jpg)
(http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6676/p1010272y.jpg) (http://img132.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010272y.jpg)
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Post by: Reuven_M on December 12, 2010, 11:51:17 AM: Wow that's a lot of shorebirds! I like pic 2 especially.
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Post by: ravynne40 on December 12, 2010, 12:28:09 PM: Terrific, what a nice variety!
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Post by: thouc on December 12, 2010, 12:33:06 PM: So what species do we have here?

I see:
American Avocet
American Wigeon
Marbled Godwit
Dowitcher (Long-billed?)
Sanderling
Dunlin
Semipalmated Plover
Least Sandpiper?
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Post by: gary yankech on December 12, 2010, 01:03:49 PM: wow great shots!...when and where were these taken?

Gary Yankech
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Post by: Reuven_M on December 12, 2010, 01:12:47 PM: Quote from: "thouc"
So what species do we have here?

I see:
American Avocet
American Wigeon
Marbled Godwit
Dowitcher (Long-billed?)
Sanderling
Dunlin
Semipalmated Plover
Least Sandpiper?

don't see least, but there are a bunch of western sandpipers.
A few I'm not sure on:
willet on bottom of pic 3?
A few mid-sized darker ones on pic 3, the most obvious are lower left of the godwit and on the right side in line with that one. Seem a bit bigger than sanderling
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Post by: thouc on December 12, 2010, 02:30:40 PM: Quote
don't see least, but there are a bunch of western sandpipers.

Western Sandpiper, of course.

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willet on bottom of pic 3?

I think so too.

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A few mid-sized darker ones on pic 3, the most obvious are lower left of the godwit and on the right side in line with that one. Seem a bit bigger than sanderling

Not sure, Pectoral comes to mind, but it is scarce on the west coast.
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Post by: lovetobird on December 12, 2010, 05:51:30 PM: Wow, that one mess of shorebirds, I wouldn't even know where to begin with a scene like that!
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Post by: aviator on December 12, 2010, 08:38:11 PM: Thanks everyone. Shorebirds can drive you crazy. They are either beak down in the mud or sleeping with the bill covered making positive ID difficult. These pics were taken at Bolsa Chica, San Joaquin and Back Bay Refuges. The best thing apart from the weather is that there are a dozen or so sites within a 20 mile radius providing coastal, river and canyon habitats and the migration patterns offer new birds every 3 months or so.
I don't know what the larger dark birds are but because they are next to the Westerns the size may be magnified. I'm surprized to have omitted the Least sandpipers as they were numerous but not often mixed with the Westerns. The Refuges print frequency of sightings by season on their websites so you can get an idea of what you might see.