I don’t think they are candidates for lumping – they’re just
difficult to ID. But definitely not as big and easy as Sandhills.
That’s what makes them fun.

Cliff

Superb candidates for lumping it seems to me, as
there’s likely subspecies in between, also sparrows and
flycatchers. Give me big ones like Sandhills, no questions on
them.

Bill Moore

Hoot Owl , home to nesting Sandhills

Inkom

On May 1, 2024, at 9:18 AM, Cliff Weisse
via groups.io
<cliffandlisa@…> wrote:



I’ve been looking through eBird checklists that include
Short-billed Dowitchers and a number of comments reminded me
just how challenging it can be to ID breeding plumage adult
dowitchers so I thought I’d throw out some things that have
helped me. 

Before I get started I want to point out that the Andrew
Birch / Cin-Ty Lee article which was published in Birding
magazine has been widely criticized, for good reason. When I
first became aware of it I was very excited.  I read and
reread it, studied the new “field marks”, and when spring
came I went out to pick through dowitchers (more on this
later). Long story short, I found the article almost useless
and was glad when others voiced their concerns about the
field marks it presented.  So, buyer beware.  I won’t go
into details but I will say the only thing in the article
that seems consistent (read useful) is the kink in the bill
of Short-billed about 1/3 of the way back from the tip. 
It’s a sharp kink, not an even curve. Long-billeds also can
have a droop but it’s less restricted (or more curved than
kinked if that makes any sense?) and more towards the center
of the bill. The kink is not always present but so far I’ve
only seen this on birds that could be identified as
Short-billeds using other field marks.

Rather than start from scratch I’m going to copy some of
what I’ve written in the past but I want to start by
pointing out that the most important step when trying to ID
dowitchers (or any shorebirds) is aging the birds. It’s
surprising how many ebird checklists include comments
describing striped tertials on adults and spots on breast
sides of juveniles. Both are irrelevant. Right now there are
only adults – there are no juveniles in spring and adults of
both species have stripes on their tertials. When fall
migrants begin to appear you can find either age but they’re
easy to tell apart because the adults are worn and the
juveniles are in fresh plumage.

That said here are some thoughts on identifying adults in
spring. Primary extension can be helpful but it is variable
and some SBDOs do not show much, or any, extension beyond
the tail.  The right hand bird in this photo is a good
example:

<ivZi1pLB3b10EFbl.png>

I still struggle with breeding plumage dowitchers but there
are some things that seem to work. 

-Spots on the side of the breast.  The left hand bird in the
above photo has distinct spots on the side of the breast ahead
of the wing.  These spots are on the feather shaft well away
from the tip of the feather and are diagnostic if present. 
-SBDO often shows quite a bit of white on the belly, flanks
and/or vent, again like the left hand bird above.  Here’s
another example that also shows obvious spots on the breast
sides:

<tAEmf05baKhwt8CF.png>

-Orange of underparts is paler and more orange on SBDO, not as
dark and rufous as LBDO. 
-SBDO has less black spotting on the center of the throat,
often clean, unmarked orange that’s quite distinctive.  Here’s
another photo that illustrate these last two points (right
hand bird).

<s8Oh7q5FLoH80EN4.png>

-Bill of SBDO often appears slightly drooped near the tip, but
I’ve seen a couple LBDOs that appear to have a slight droop as
well, albeit further from the tip of the bill, so I would
suggest using this with caution. 
-Markings on edges of feathers and internal markings on
scaps/coverts of SBDO are often paler golden buff than the
rufous of LBDO.

Hopefully you’ll find some of this useful.  I still try to
verify identification by flushing possible SBDOs hoping they
call and still leave some as ???

I recently found these pages that seem useful:
http://tgreybirds.com/Pages/LongbilledDowitcherp.html
http://tgreybirds.com/Pages/ShortbilledDowitcherp.html
– this page details a Short-billed field mark I hadn’t seen
before. The pale tips of the flank feather are washed
orange, not bright white as on Long-billed. So far this
seems to be consistent but I don’t know if it’s totally
reliable.

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.

<twobirds.jpg>

Photo #1: This was taken on May 27

<dow3.jpg>

Photo #2: This one was taken on May 20

<dow1.jpg>

<tail1.jpg>

Photos 3 & 4: Taken on May 14

<dow2.jpg>

<tail2.jpg>

Photos 5 & 6: Taken on May 14

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

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

I’ve been looking through eBird checklists that include
Short-billed Dowitchers and a number of comments reminded me just
how challenging it can be to ID breeding plumage adult dowitchers
so I thought I’d throw out some things that have helped me. 

Before I get started I want to point out that the Andrew Birch /
Cin-Ty Lee article which was published in Birding magazine has
been widely criticized, for good reason. When I first became aware
of it I was very excited.  I read and reread it, studied the new
“field marks”, and when spring came I went out to pick through
dowitchers (more on this later). Long story short, I found the
article almost useless and was glad when others voiced their
concerns about the field marks it presented.  So, buyer beware.  I
won’t go into details but I will say the only thing in the article
that seems consistent (read useful) is the kink in the bill of
Short-billed about 1/3 of the way back from the tip.  It’s a sharp
kink, not an even curve. Long-billeds also can have a droop but
it’s less restricted (or more curved than kinked if that makes any
sense?) and more towards the center of the bill. The kink is not
always present but so far I’ve only seen this on birds that could
be identified as Short-billeds using other field marks.

Rather than start from scratch I’m going to copy some of what
I’ve written in the past but I want to start by pointing out that
the most important step when trying to ID dowitchers (or any
shorebirds) is aging the birds. It’s surprising how many ebird
checklists include comments describing striped tertials on adults
and spots on breast sides of juveniles. Both are irrelevant. Right
now there are only adults – there are no juveniles in spring and
adults of both species have stripes on their tertials. When fall
migrants begin to appear you can find either age but they’re easy
to tell apart because the adults are worn and the juveniles are in
fresh plumage.

That said here are some thoughts on identifying adults in spring.
Primary extension can be helpful but it is variable and some SBDOs
do not show much, or any, extension beyond the tail.  The right
hand bird in this photo is a good example:

I still struggle with breeding plumage dowitchers but there are
some things that seem to work. 

-Spots on the side of the breast.  The left hand bird in the above
photo has distinct spots on the side of the breast ahead of the
wing.  These spots are on the feather shaft well away from the tip
of the feather and are diagnostic if present. 
-SBDO often shows quite a bit of white on the belly, flanks and/or
vent, again like the left hand bird above.  Here’s another example
that also shows obvious spots on the breast sides:

-Orange of underparts is paler and more orange on SBDO, not as
dark and rufous as LBDO. 
-SBDO has less black spotting on the center of the throat, often
clean, unmarked orange that’s quite distinctive.  Here’s another
photo that illustrate these last two points (right hand bird).

-Bill of SBDO often appears slightly drooped near the tip, but
I’ve seen a couple LBDOs that appear to have a slight droop as
well, albeit further from the tip of the bill, so I would suggest
using this with caution. 
-Markings on edges of feathers and internal markings on
scaps/coverts of SBDO are often paler golden buff than the rufous
of LBDO.

Hopefully you’ll find some of this useful.  I still try to verify
identification by flushing possible SBDOs hoping they call and
still leave some as ???

I recently found these pages that seem useful:
http://tgreybirds.com/Pages/LongbilledDowitcherp.html
http://tgreybirds.com/Pages/ShortbilledDowitcherp.html – this page
details a Short-billed field mark I hadn’t seen before. The pale
tips of the flank feather are washed orange, not bright white as
on Long-billed. So far this seems to be consistent but I don’t
know if it’s totally reliable.

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@...

Coincidentally I saw my first Swainson’s for the year north of
the Snake River Plain in the Island Park area this afternoon.

Cliff

Thanks to all for the information & sightings of Swainson’s
Hawk & info of spring arrival dates. Appreciate your info,
Cliff. I’m starting to review data on eBird more often, esp as
spring warbler migration gets underway. BTW, still waiting for my
first spring warbler this yr.

I did see another Swainson’s this afternoon. For our location,
have always considered them a “May” bird, as that’s when a pair
that used to arrive…for a number of yrs…would appear &
would nest on either our place or neighboring farm. Unfortunately,
after a good 15 yrs, they stopped showing a couple of yrs ago.
Definitely agree that migration timing, even within same general
region, is quite fascinating. 

Brian Carrigan 
Blackfoot 

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

Thanks to all for the information & sightings of Swainson’s Hawk & info of spring arrival dates. Appreciate your info, Cliff. I’m starting to review data on eBird more often, esp as spring warbler migration gets underway. BTW, still waiting for my first spring warbler this yr.

I did see another Swainson’s this afternoon. For our location, have always considered them a “May” bird, as that’s when a pair that used to arrive…for a number of yrs…would appear & would nest on either our place or neighboring farm. Unfortunately, after a good 15 yrs, they stopped showing a couple of yrs ago. Definitely agree that migration timing, even within same general region, is quite fascinating. 

Brian Carrigan 
Blackfoot 

This is weird; I did not post this. You are right, I had a Harris’ Sparrow a few years ago in December. This looks like my post from that period.

FWIW, Migration timing for Swainson’s Hawks is very consistent
and they show up in eastern Idaho/upper Snake River Plain during
the second week of April. Earlier than that is unusual but there
are typically a few records in the first week of April. eBird data
bears that out. This year there was an obvious uptick in reports
starting on the 12th. I’ve always been fascinated by this…

Cliff

I saw one in Chubbuck on 4/12, then five more as I
traveled along the north side of the American Falls Reservoir
(going from Sterling to Ferry Butte) on 4/20.

Eric

On Sun, Apr 28, 2024 at
8:24 PM bike4birds via groups.io <tmccabe9=outlook.com@groups.io>
wrote:

And they’ve
been in Boise about the same.

Tom

 

From: IBLE@groups.io
<IBLE@groups.io>
On Behalf Of
Tim Reynolds via groups.io
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2024 4:50 PM
To: IBLE@groups.io
Subject: Re: [IBLE] Not one, but two

 

 

SWHA have been north of Idaho Falls
for a week or two.

From: IBLE@groups.io
<IBLE@groups.io>
On Behalf Of lcarrigan_55
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2024 4:16 PM
To: IBLE@groups.io
Subject: [IBLE] Not one, but two

 

Just returned home after taking a
Sun morning drive over to Sun Valley. Coming back
home, saw my first Swainson’s Hawk of the year at
Carey. It flew right overhead, so I pulled over &
put binocs on it to confirm the field markings. Then,
just NW of Blackfoot on Hwy 26, saw my 2nd Swainson’s
of the day. I’m going to have to check my records, but
believe this is my earliest date of arrival for
Swainson’s Hawk. 

Back home, still have good numbers of Cassin’s Finches
hitting the sunflower seeds. Yesterday, counted at
least 20. 

Brian Carrigan 
Blackfoot

—

Eric Rude

Teacher: Forensic Science, Dual Credit Biology

Pocatello High School

Pocatello, Idaho

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