ML261906031

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

I had previously identified this bird by biking past it on the way from Montpelier to Middlesex's Red Hen bakery, stopping at every flat to look for Semipalmated Plovers or Sandpipers. As soon as I saw this bird, I knew it was a Dowitcher or a Snipe - the beak is very obviously quite long. I first ruled out Woodcock and Snipe by noting the general shape, long legs, and the posture and coloration. Then I attempted to work out if it was a Short- or Long-billed Dowitcher. This was difficult using my binoculars, and my initial ID was too hasty, I feel. I was using only Sibley's guide then, and went off of the lack of "barring on the flanks", which later I think is not conclusive, and the general coloration of the supercilium and the cap. I then logged the bird in this checklist (https://ebird.org/checklist/S73460372), and went on to Red Hen while Chip arrived. When he arrived, we spent a good deal of time talking about the bird and conferring with resources on the internet, and looking at a checklist from this morning from a bird in the Champlain valley (https://ebird.org/vt/checklist/S73457782). This had mentioned tertials as a defining feature. I spent the next twenty minutes getting confused about what feathers these were, mistaking them for the retrices at one point. However, with Chip's help, we finally came to a conclusion. This bird has a bold, white supercilium and a dark cap, with a broken eye-ring and some white flecking in the cheek. The primaries do not extend beyond the tail. The tail feathers were noted as being heavily barred, with the black barring wider than the white spaces in between them. The side of the bird appears to be barred lightly, and not entirely spotted; this is more clear in the photographs than it was on the site, and may not be a great indicator due to the molt and age of this bird. Note that SBDO normally have spotted flanks according to BotW, so I'm not sure what Sibley meant. The bird appears to have a hunched back occasionally, as if "it had a grapefruit in its throat". Mostly, Chip and I focused on the tertials, which have no internal marks and very narrow edging. This is a clear feature for LBDO. Unfortunately, the most salient feature, the call, was not heard, although I almost thought it was calling out when a SOSA flew by briefly. This is the first record of this bird in Washington County on eBird. Lifer. I haven't found Semipalmated Sandpipers yet here.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D500

Lens

200.0-500.0 mm f/5.6

ISO

320

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/800 sec

Dimensions

2048 pixels x 1365 pixels

Original file size

1.71 MB