ML31602371
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Adult, Unknown sex - X
Observation details
***Mega. Adult male still mostly in breeding plumage with a few basic feathers coming in. Distant but identifiable photos and video. We found this bird about 8:25 when Tom Johnson noticed it fly in. It remained on the mudflats at Knox-Marcellus Marsh, well after sunset. The bird was feeding on the mud at these GPS coordinates: 43.005338,-76.756024. We were scoping from East Rd. at about this spot: 43.007629,-76.758435. This bird is a fairly bright male with mostly rusty and white underparts and a deep, brick red patch on the chest; the undertail/ vent area is clean white. The bird was associating with Semipalmated Sandpipers and later with Stilt and Pectoral Sandpipers; in comparisons with other shorebirds, the Curlew Sandpiper was about the size of nearby female Pectoral Sandpipers (the small Pecs). Evening light was rather nice; I suspect that it will be tough to view from East Rd. in the morning; distant scoping from Towpath Rd. might be fruitful, though. When seen in flight the distinctive white rump and pale wing stripe were obvious. As the photos illustrate, the bird was very distant and difficult to photograph. That said, when not hidden behind vegetation it was fairly easy to find as there were no other shorebirds this color -- though hendersoni Short-billed Dowitchers may cause a bit of excitement if viewed alone and sleeping. Video below Curlew Sandpiper from Christopher Wood on Vimeo.
Technical information
- Model
- iPhone 4S
- ISO
- 80
- Focal length
- 4.3 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/2.4
- Shutter speed
- 0.05 sec
- Dimensions
- 819 pixels x 614 pixels
- Original file size
- 257.33 KB