Short Billed Dowitcher and Stilt sandpipers Lake Cascade

Hi all,
Last night, just before sunset while birding at old state hwy 55 where it runs into Cascade lake we found two Stilt sandpipers foraging with nearby Western and Least sandpipers. Tall shorebirds like dowitchers with longer curved bills, white eyebrows, sewing machine motion when feeding. 
We also had a flyover White faced Ibis, and new county bird for us. 
This morning we went out again hoping to relocate them and did so quite promptly with good looks. A little distant for good photos unfortunately. 
Then, as we were headed back we spotted a small flock of dowitchers. It consisted of four very typical reddish birds and one very gray bird. We observed them for a while, hoping they would fly and call, clenching the ID for all of them.  Eventually, out of curiosity we decided to use Short-Billed Dowitcher playback. Immediately, the gray bird picked his head up, and was very alert. A few more calls from the playback later, the bird flew straight at us, calling “tu tu tu”, and then landed within 50 yards of us in a flock of Tringa. Once it was close, it gave soft “tu tu” responses to playback, clenching the ID for us. The bird always stayed separate from the LBDO’s, and displayed a very flat back when feeding, an occasionally useful identification piece. Also, the LBDO’s flew over shortly after and their flight call was very different, much more “pip” sounding and chattery. 
Both the Stilt Sandpipers and Short Billed Dowitcher are first Valley county records!
This spot is fantastic for shorebirds right now. Between last night and this morning we have had, Pectoral, Least, Western, Semipalmated, Baird’s, Spotted, and STILT SANDPIPER. We have seen all three species of Tringa: Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, and Solitary Sandpiper. SHORT BILLED DOWITCHER, Long Billed dowitcher, White Faced Ibis, Killdeer, Wilson’s Phalarope and Wilson’s snipe make for 15 species of shorebirds within 12 hours. 
Just wanting to let people know, and hope these birds stick for anyone wanting to chase!
Eric (and Andrew and Bruce) Pratt 

Re: [inland-NW-birders] 2023 – Canyon County, Idaho : BLACK TURNSTONE

Carl is correct, there are no other reports of either species on
19 August.

Cliff

On 8/13/24 04:21PM, Carl Lundblad
wrote:

Many people saw and photographed the Ruddy on 18
August, but Jon’s bird from the 19th is not the same bird and is
an unequivocal Black Turnstone.  There were no other photos of
either species submitted from the 19th, I don’t think, so the
Ruddy may or may not have still been present.

Neat stuff!
Carl Lundblad
Reno, NV

On Tue, Aug 13, 2024 at
3:14 PM Louisa Evers via groups.io <elouisa603=gmail.com@groups.io>
wrote:
Lots of people saw
this bird. Jon Curd’s photo is quite dark.  It was a ruddy
turnstone, not a black turnstone.

On Tue, Aug 13, 2024 at
2:27 PM Charles Swift via groups.io
<chaetura=gmail.com@groups.io>
wrote:
FYI …

———- Forwarded
message ———
From: Trent
Bray via Inland-nw-birders
<inland-nw-birders@…>
Date: Tue, Aug 13, 2024 at 1:10 PM
Subject: [inland-NW-birders] 2023 – Canyon County,
Idaho : BLACK TURNSTONE
To: Inland-nw-birders@…
<Inland-nw-birders@…>

Birders –
Last night from bed, I ‘found’ daho’s first BLACK
TURNSTONE, while looking through inland records of
Ruddies.

Deer Flat NWR–Lower Dam
Saturday, 19 August, 2023

https://ebird.org/checklist/S147602529#flag-604850311

Congratulation to Jon (JC) Curd!

Good birding,

– Trent

Trent Bray
La Grande, OR
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Charles Swift

Moscow, Idaho
46°43′54″ N, 116°59′50″ W
chaetura@…

Louisa Evers
Take care of the birds and you take care of the world

-- 
Cliff and Lisa Weisse
Island Park, Idaho
cliffandlisa@...

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