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August 2010

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From:
"Lehman, Jay" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lehman, Jay
Date:
Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:07:39 -0400
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After Pickerington Ponds, I went west to check out the Woods Road area in Darke County.  This area is north of Ansonia.  I drove through showers but the weather was clear when I arrived at about 5:00 pm.  I stayed until 7:00 pm.  This flooded agricultural field, apparently plugged drainage tiles has been active for shorebirds most of this year, mostly by Regina Schieltz.  Best time for viewing is in the late afternoon and evening, when the sun is at your back.

This are was really a hot-spot last night.

Semipalmated Plover 4, Killdeer 180, Greater Yellowlegs 3, Lesser Yellowlegs 75, Solitary Sandpiper 1, Spotted Sandpiper 1, Semipalmated Sandpiper 10, Semi/Western candidate 1, Least sandpiper 25, Baird's Sandpiper 2, Pectoral Sandpiper 150, Stilt Sandpiper 15 (young birds of the year and molting adults) Short-billed Dowitcher 16, Long-billed Dowitcher 1, Wilson's Phalarope 1, Red-necked Phalarope 1.

Fifteen species of shorebirds away from Lake Erie is not too shabby.

The Long-billed Dowitcher was identified by structure/gizz (very fat rounded belly and hump-backed appearance), quite gray color, dark tertial feathers on which I could find no internal markings and the structure of the bill base.  I was not able to verify by flight call, because none of the dowitchers were calling or flying.

"Short-billed Dowitcher has high bill base which lowers rapidly, and forms a clear curve in the upper profile.  Long-billed Dowitcher has a straight profile, and the base is about as high as the bill elsewhere."

Clear photos of this were once found at, but I could no longer find them here.

http://www.fermatainc.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=60.

_http://www.fermatainc.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=60_.

There is an article about this base of bill field mark at

http://www.surfbirds.com/ID%20Articles/dowitchers1005/Dowitcher_bill_surfbirds.pdf

_ http://www.surfbirds.com/ID%20Articles/dowitchers1005/Dowitcher_bill_surfbirds.pdf_.

This article precedes the article in Birding, September/October 2006, "Advances in the Field Identification of North American Dowitchers" that discusses "loral angle."

Jay

Jay G. Lehman
Cincinnati, OH
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