ML38540171

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Actually, there may have been as many as a dozen. These birds were found at the north end lagoon area just as the high tide had receded enough for long-legged shorebirds to converge. These birds appear to be juvenile-plumaged. We first noticed three darker and definitely longer-billed dowitchers within the flock of 50+ dowitchers and Willets. They were 20-25 yards from us, at best. I heard them call several times and so we checked Randy's I-pod for Short-billed calls first - which they did not match - and then Long-billeds, which the calls did match - exactly. We took photos - see Harrod's eBird checklist, as well, and I recorded their calls on my cell phone. Noted were the darker overall appearance than the nearby Short-billeds and the hunch-backed (indented lower back) appearance as they fed. Noted also was the buffy fringed scapulars and covert feathers, which show a lesser amount than what would be expected with a Short-billed. The supercilium was very straight. One of Randy's images really shows that well. But it was the vocalizations which were the clincher. Aftewards, we stopped by the local eBird reviewers residence to afford him the chance to see the images and to hear the recorded calls. * This marks the third time in October (2013 & 2014) in which I have recorded "calling" Long-billed Dowitchers in south Pinellas. The other two times the species was at Shell Key, the island just north of Fort De Soto Park.

Technical information

Model

DMC-FZ200

ISO

100

Focal length

108 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/4.0

Shutter speed

1/640 sec

Dimensions

640 pixels x 480 pixels

Original file size

183 KB