ML608992077
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
- Behaviors
- Flying; Foraging or eating
Media notes
Presumed Long-billed Dowitcher leaping over its short-billed companion giving a clear view of the relatively unmarked carpal and diagnostic tertials.
Observation details
I initially passed off the larger of these two birds as an SBDO (the default in saltwater habitat) but several features have needled at the back of my mind, reaching the point where I'm willing to change the ID to LBDO. I think this is the first LBDO I've ever seen at Mecox in some 20+ years of visiting on a regular basis. Compared to its partner, one bird was clearly larger and with a marginally longer bill. At the time I chalked this up to male/female differences. The unmarked tertials are fresh and thus 1st basic, so not very informative. The underwing shots are more instructive. The lesser underwing coverts are very poorly marked creating a white area. The barring on the axillaries appears to be even such that the dark bars are narrower than the white interbars. In most SBDO the dark bars are as thick as the white interbars. I don't recall either bird calling as they fed contentedly. I kept my distance so they did not flush. As for the hunched posture that people cite so often, well I personally just don't see that even on dowitchers identifiable by call.
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS R5
- Lens
- RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM
- ISO
- 4000
- Focal length
- 500 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire
- f-stop
- f/7.1
- Shutter speed
- 1/3200 sec
- Dimensions
- 2207 pixels x 1655 pixels
- Original file size
- 544.52 KB