ML609229016

Age and sex

Juvenile, Unknown sex - 1

Observation details

Continuing bird confirmed by Tony Kurz yesterday and probably seen by Lucas Brug on 19 Sept. In view by other birders when we showed up (Casey Ryan, Dessi Sieburth, Logan Kahle, Ethan Monk, Frank Fabro). Our first experience with it was when it was foraging in the small cove with a few other GRYEs here: 41.842053, -124.202895. It then flew over to the opposite side of The Narrows here: 41.841314, -124.204980 and would also occasionally fly to the small island bar around here: 41.840448, -124.207384 and then back to the original location. Bird was extremely active and was seen to successfully catch multiple small fish. In comparison to Greater Yellowlegs it regularly associated with it was similar in size but obviously whiter below. In flight it had that obvious white wedge going far up the back, farther than a dowitcher wedge, and it's tail looked wholly bright white in a distance (but clearly barred in close looks and photos), giving the overall impression of much paler tringa. In close viewing the bird also looked paler overall than GRYEs and was noticeably different from the white line that started at the chin/throat and continued down into the very white belly. The sides of the breast were similar to GRYE barring. It was super cool to see that it had a diffuse white stripe on both sides of the neck that continued down to the base of the wings that, to me (Fowler) gave the impression of a juvenile Ruddy Turnstone. The eyering was more distinct and it had dark lores, white forehead and malar which gave it a paler facial impression, especially when looking at it head-on. What a cool bird to drive right up to and get to enjoy from super close to distant looks of and fully experience and not just see briefly and hope for better looks. I'd recommend birders chasing this bird to start at the parking area for the narrows and spend time really looking in between the coordinates above and then going to Teal Point to look from there.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

640

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/1250 sec

Dimensions

3260 pixels x 2173 pixels

Original file size

3.52 MB