ML257568921

Age and sex

Juvenile, Unknown sex - 1

Media notes

Juvenile Baird's Sandpiper photographed by Curtis A. Marantz on 22 August 2020 at the back-basin ponds of Lake Elsinore, Riverside County, California.

Observation details

I saw six Baird's Sandpipers on one pass along the shoreline of the northern back-basin pond and one more at the southern back-basin pond; all were juveniles. Although these birds varied somewhat in their plumage patterns, all were somewhat larger than the Least and Western Sandpipers with which they were associated, and all had conspicuously long wings that resulted in an appearance that was both horizontal and with a finely tapered rear end. The best seen birds all had crisp scaling above that combined dark centers and buffy edges and in some cases whitish tips to the scapulars and coverts. All of these birds had a hooded appearance with the breast about the same color as the head and upperparts, but at least the closer birds also appeared to have white throats. I only once or twice did I heard one of these birds give the low, grating call that is typical of this species.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

ISO

320

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/1600 sec

Dimensions

1115 pixels x 742 pixels

Original file size

1.38 MB