ML616602482

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Overwintering bird I think. On 2 Nov and again on 19 Nov I had two juvies in this exact same area and saw tiger striped tertials and heard the triple tu calI (I read that some juvie SBDO can suspend their molt until Nov during migration). Even then they were unusually late for still being in Oregon. On 4 Jan, very close by at Fossil Point, I had one Dowitcher which I purposely jumped and heard it do the tu-tu-tu call and assumed it was one of those birds overwintering- very rare for Oregon! I did not bird out here much since then but think this is very likely the same overwintering bird. It appears to be molting and interestingly had bright tiger striped tertials already (digiscoped photo of distant bird). Anyhow it makes sense that this is likely the same overwintering individual I heard nearby in Jan and not a lone early migrant. I have heard spring migrant SBDO as early as 1 Apr in Coos County (also the earliest spring record for the county) but only one year- the first birds usually appear in the second week of April (after about 7 Apr for first detection). I am not sure how advanced the molt is in these early migrants but will certainly be checking as they arrive in early April. I should mention that I rarely ever see any wintering dowitchers in this area- Long-billeds are more regular in the upper bay off the Millicoma Marsh area. There have been a few Dec records of calling SBDOs in Coos Bay but never a wintering individual until this year.

Technical information

Model

iPhone 13 mini

Lens

iPhone 13 mini back dual wide camera 5.1mm f/1.6

ISO

50

Focal length

5.1 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/1.6

Shutter speed

1/766 sec

Dimensions

2273 pixels x 2659 pixels

Original file size

671.8 KB