No. Your guesses are likely to be so much better than mine. Just going to call them all LBDOs. The differences are too subtle and too inconsistent for me.
Daily Archives: May 3, 2024
Re: Short-billed Dowitcher ID / ID Challenge
So would you be willing to enlighten us with your opinion of my
guesses?
Cliff
On 5/3/24 10:02AM, Louisa Evers wrote:
I looked over your notes, the stuff in the two
links you sent and remain unenlightened.On Fri, May 3, 2024 at 07:32
Cliff Weisse via groups.io <cliffandlisa=octobersetters.com@groups.io>
wrote:Well,
I’m surprised no one was willing to venture a guess on
the ID of these dowitchers so I’ll go ahead and add my
guesses. Any opinions? Does anyone agree or disagree
with my labels? Why? This is one of my favorite ID
challenges and I’m still waiting for the roads to melt
off so I can get to Island Park Reservoir and pick
through some actual birds but this is going to have to
suffice for now.Cliff
My guesses are as follows:
Photo #1 – LBDO on left, SBDO on right.
Photo #2 – SBDO
Photo #3 & 4 – SBDO
Photo #5 & 6 – LBDO.
On 5/1/24 09:17AM, Cliff Weisse wrote:Now I want to revisit the Birding article. I went out
and tried to apply the new field marks and became
skeptical of their validity so I posted some photos to
the ID Frontiers listserv requesting opinions. I’m
going to put the photos below but withhold my guesses
on the IDs and what the experts had to say for now. If
you’re up for the challenge take a look and try to ID
them and see if you do better than I did. Which do you
think are Long-billed and which are Short-billed?These photos were all taken on Island Park
Reservoir in Idaho.
Photo #1: This was taken on May 27
Photo #2: This one was taken on May 20
Photos 3 & 4: Taken on May 14
Photos 5 & 6: Taken on May 14
-- Cliff and Lisa Weisse Island Park, Idaho cliffandlisa@...-- Cliff and Lisa Weisse Island Park, Idaho cliffandlisa@...
-- Cliff and Lisa Weisse Island Park, Idaho cliffandlisa@...
Re: Short-billed Dowitcher ID / ID Challenge
I looked over your notes, the stuff in the two links you sent and remain unenlightened.
Re: Short-billed Dowitcher ID / ID Challenge
OK, looking at these pictures I agree with your “guesses” 🤓
1. Despite any negative impressions of the Lee and Birch paper, this pair does seem to illustrate their discussion of SBDO having a steeper forehead and more arched supercilium compared to LBDO. Also seen here is the paler belly on the SBDO compared to the orangish belly on the LBDO which they also discuss. But I am a complete novice with these birds, these features may not be consistently seen in the field, rendering it useless, I don’t know.
2. SBDO. Some breast spotting, pale belly, the white tail stripes appear to be wider than the black, but it’s a tossup for me, the picture is a bit fuzzy and as Kaufman states, “If you are sure the light bars are wider than dark bars then you have SBDO. In between, this is not safe to use.”
3 and 4. SBDO. Both show white tail stripes to be wider than the black.
5 and 6. LBDO. Breast barring instead of spots, dark tail stripes appears to be wider than the white stripes.
Thanks for posting this, I look forward to seeing any other pictures you might capture this spring and summer!
Scott
Re: Short-billed Dowitcher ID / ID Challenge
Thanks for providing that very detailed and helpful summary, Cliff! These birds do make for a great puzzler. I’ll study your examples and offer a guess!
Cheers,
Scott
House Wren
Some sunshine, after scattered snow (melted rapidly) & rain most of the night, allowed for a walk around the place starting about an hour ago. Found my first House Wren of the season singing from a cottonwood perch.
Then, heard drumming on our metal home sign along the lane. Thought it sounded “softer” than the usual flicker pounding on our wood stove pipe cover. Surprised to see a Red-naped Sapsucker just drumming away!
Now, waiting for the Black-headed Grosbeaks to appear.
Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot
Re: Short-billed Dowitcher ID / ID Challenge
Well,
I’m surprised no one was willing to venture a guess on the ID of
these dowitchers so I’ll go ahead and add my guesses. Any
opinions? Does anyone agree or disagree with my labels? Why? This
is one of my favorite ID challenges and I’m still waiting for the
roads to melt off so I can get to Island Park Reservoir and pick
through some actual birds but this is going to have to suffice for
now.
Cliff
My guesses are as follows:
Photo #1 – LBDO on left, SBDO on right.
Photo #2 – SBDO
Photo #3 & 4 – SBDO
Photo #5 & 6 – LBDO
.
On 5/1/24 09:17AM, Cliff Weisse wrote:
Now I want to revisit the Birding article. I went out and tried
to apply the new field marks and became skeptical of their
validity so I posted some photos to the ID Frontiers listserv
requesting opinions. I’m going to put the photos below but
withhold my guesses on the IDs and what the experts had to say
for now. If you’re up for the challenge take a look and try to
ID them and see if you do better than I did. Which do you think
are Long-billed and which are Short-billed?These photos were all taken on Island Park Reservoir in
Idaho.
Photo #1: This was taken on May 27
Photo #2: This one was taken on May 20
Photos 3 & 4: Taken on May 14
Photos 5 & 6: Taken on May 14
-- Cliff and Lisa Weisse Island Park, Idaho cliffandlisa@...
-- Cliff and Lisa Weisse Island Park, Idaho cliffandlisa@...