North Coast Diaries

A Quiz Bird Two-fer --- Friday, July 31, 2009

First a mystery shorebird comes to us from our good friends Dave Lauten and Kathy Castelein down Coos Bay way. It was taken through a spotting scope. Note the long bill and long legs...

The second is was taken by me at Mt Hebo. It was with a mixed flock of feeding passerines that included warblers and chickadees.

Add you opinions via the comments link.

• Friday, July 31, 2009 - quiz two-fer

Posted by Dave Irons

The shorebird is a molting adult Western Sandpiper that is in the process of losing its alternate plumage.

The lower bird is a Pacific-Slope Flycatcher. The overall shape suggests a flycatcher. Its greenish brown back and head, broad buffy wingbars and creamy yellow underparts and the obvious eye ring tell us it is an Empidoax flycatcher. The somewhat broad teardrop shaped creamy yellow eye ring tells us the species. Pac-slopes often flick or cock their tails up (like this bird) when alarmed.

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• Friday, July 31, 2009 - ID Quiz

Posted by melospiza

I seldom succeed at bird quizzes; they're very humbling. But number 1 looked like a Western Sandpiper, especially the size and shape of the bill and the scattered rust-color on the back. I'm no good at anything unusual, but I've seen a lot of molty Westerns.

Number 2 looked like a Pacific-slope flycatcher. I get them in my back yard--the eye-ring shape, size and color of bill. Could I prove it's not a Cordilleran? Heck no, but location, location, location.

Imagine my shock when David Irons said just what I was thinking. Maybe I'm a birder after all, at least with familiar birds.

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• Friday, July 31, 2009 - Photo Number 1

Posted by Dave Lauten

Here are two bits of info about the first bird. One, it's wings are longer than it's tail. Two, it was larger than any peep or Snowy Plover that it was nearby.

In the field, this bird was rather large and with a large bill. Next to Sanderlings and Snowy Plovers, it competed with the former in size and was noticeable large than the latter. We spent some time looking at the bird and taking notes, and upon review we agree that the field marks indicate Western Sandpiper. Due to its size, we had thought this bird may be a juvenile Dunlin. However, we noted semipalmations between the toes, a feature Dunlin do not have, and Dunlin wings should be shorter than the tail. I agree this bird was a large female Western Sandpiper.

Edited by mbalame on Friday, July 31, 2009 at 8:05 PM

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• Friday, July 31, 2009 - two-fer quiz

Posted by Jeff Gilligan

The shorebird looks like an adult White-rumped Sandpiper in worn breeding plumage (long primary projection, long legs, spotting on the flanks). The empid looks like a fall plumage Hammond's Flycathcher. That said, there is danger in trying to identify an empid from one photo with all aspects not clearly shown. The bill and head shape remind me more of Hammond's that Pacific-slope - but Pacific-slopes are normally the default ID in the forests near the coast.

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• Friday, July 31, 2009 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous

Here's where these photo-quizes cause problems, and where I agree with Paul Sullivan. In the field, the white rump of Calidris fusicollis might have shown itself eventually, but the photographer can withhold the information. With the size of the bird, the long wings, and the shape of the bill, on another coast you would go right to White-rumped Sandpiper.

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• Friday, July 31, 2009 - Photo 1

Posted by David Lauten

The rump was not white. We were on that field mark both for White-rumped and Curlew Sandpiper. I will say this is a provocative discussion, because of both the White-rumped and Phil Pickerings Dunlin comment (on OBOL). For a little more background, Kathy and I see literally thousands and thousands of shorebirds every year, due to our job on the Oregon coast. This bird turned Kathy's head right away, because it was so big, both body and bill. I thought the same as soon as I looked at it. It looked like a Dunlin in Western plumage. I wouldn't have sent it along if it was just some normal WESA.

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• Friday, July 31, 2009 - a hybrid sandpiper?

Posted by Jeff Gilligan

Well, why not a Western X Dunlin or a White-rumped X something ?

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• Friday, July 31, 2009 - Western Sandpiper and Pac-slope

Posted by David Vander Pluym

Often the best way to id shorebirds is to start with trying to age it. This bird is a second-year bird (SY ie born last year). The worn secondaries, primaries, and lesser covs are all old 1st basic feathers (ie feathers from last fall) while the fresher scaps and back feathers are newer 1st alternate feathers grown this past spring. I think this is what is fooling people. The fresh alternate feathers all look like typical Western Sandpiper feathers (especially the face pattern). The black bill and legs along with the exact patterning rule out Rock Sandpiper, the bill length and shape is well within range for a Western. The wings look fairly not (or at least not the long winged look of a White-rumped or Baird's). Given that hybridization within shorebirds is incredibly rare (Western has not been known to hybridize with any species), why is this bird not a Western Sandpiper?

As for the empid the tear drop shape eye ring, big bill with a pale lower mandible, the yellow underparts and buffy feather edges are all typical of a "Western" Flycatcher. Good birding all

David Vander Pluym

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About these diaries:

Natural History along the Oregon North Coast, with side trips to other parts of the Pacific Northwest and the occasional digression into the philosophical esoterica of things sciencey...

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