Hi Cliff, thanks so much for sharing this additional info! Attached are two photos from Black’s Creek last summer, including one that I (still) feel is SBDO. Any thoughts you might have regarding this bird, especially what makes it NOT a LBDO? Thx!
You nailed it Louisa. The opinions were unanimous – they’re all
Long-billeds. I read that Birch/Lee article on Surfbirds the year
before it was published in Birding and I was really excited. I
started using their proposed field marks and quickly realized I was
finding way too many Short-billeds. That’s why I posted the photos
to ID Frontiers – I knew I was getting them wrong and I was willing
to take my lumps to learn.
Forget the Birding article. Except for the kink in the bill of
SBDO it’s almost useless for field identification. It was widely
and extensively criticized when it came out but Birding never
published the criticism. As Scott pointed out, the first pair of
birds in my photos seems to illustrate the difference in loral
angles proposed by Birch/Lee but it actually demonstrates why so
many experts criticized it. Loral angle doesn’t even work for the
photos in their own article. Here’s an excerpt from an email
posted on ID Frontiers by Ron Pittaway, one of the experts listed
in the article:
“7. Loral Angle ID: The loral angles shown on page 36 used to
distinguish the two species are of questionable value. Loral
angles should not to be trusted in the field and are of limited
value in photos. According to the graph on page 36 the
diagnostic loral angle is less than < 12 degrees for
Long-billed Dowitcher and greater than > 27 degrees for
Short-billed Dowitcher. Most birds, however, including the very
examples in Figure A (18 degrees) and Figure B (22 degrees) fall
in the wide 12 27 degrees overlap zone. If the bird’s head is
turned a tiny bit the loral angle is off. The loral angle
suggests precision and objectivity; however, it is variable and
subject to incorrect interpretations. For example, the bird
labeled a Long-billed (it’s a Short-billed as discussed in # 1
but corrected online) on page 34 keys out incorrectly to be a
Long-billed using loral angle. Jean Iron and I went through The
Shorebird Guide (O’Brien et al. 2006) keying out dowitchers
using loral angles. Some Short-billed Dowitchers keyed out as
Long-billed and vice versa. Try it yourself. This would be a
good project for a birding class to do in the classroom using
photos and comparing results.“
Based on comments in eBird checklists birders are still,
understandably, being led astray by that article. Hence this post.
If you don’t want to end up getting even more confused about
dowitcher ID (like I did), go back to the old field marks. They
still work. Once you have good understanding of them many SBDOs
are pretty straight forward to identify, but many aren’t. When you
think you have a Short-billed try to flush it and hope it calls to
confirm the ID. If you’re not comfortable being unable to ID, or
misidentifying, some individuals then dowitcher ID is not for you.
Just call them all “Dowitcher sp” because you will undoubtedly get
some of them wrong.
I don’t want to discourage anyone from trying to ID dowitchers.
It’s still one of my favorite things to do. I love that it’s hard
to figure them out and that it adds to our understanding of
species distribution during migration. And they’ll let you walk
right up to them for in your face views. My guess is SBDO is more
regular in SW Idaho than the one accepted record in eBird
suggests. If you want to find them do yourself a favor and don’t
waste your time on field marks that don’t work.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
We attended a few days at the Tubac Hawk Watch
where Common Black Hawks are the featured celebrity to watch
for; However on March 14th the Swainson hawks were starting to
show up. Do AZ migrants end up in Idaho. I think most migrate
thru CA. Attached Chart Shows Counts
