Back in the (Western) saddle

They did indeed let me go home last night.  I had planned on mostly relaxing on my couch today, but when Tim found a Western Sandpiper on the pier I couldn't not go after a bird that hasn't been seen in the county since the 90's.

Typically Western is one of the brighter peeps.  This one is a faded adult that's moulted its scapulars to winter gray but retains faded wings and a few black flecks along the flanks retained from breeding plumage.

While some Semipalmated sandpipers do have longish bills, I doubt any are quite as long as this birds.  No Semi has as nice a taper and droop.

A semi also won't have the flank flecks.  White-rumped could have that though it would have wings projecting past the tail, a reddish bill base and would lack the webbing of the toes that Western shares with Semi-palmated.

Dunlin would also lack the semi-palmations, would be a larger bird with an even heavier bill.  With the wings fully flared you can see a little rufous in the central scapulars even in the presumed winter plumage.

The bird mainly hung out with a flock of sanderlings that was moving back and forth between the beach and the piers.

This pic again ties my personal best 4 species in one frame at Tiscornia.  I think the last time I did it was with essentially the same species, just semi instead of Western

I'm now safely back on my couch where I should be able to stay for back to back football triple headers ... unless of course there's something requiring my attention at the pier.  Thanks to Tim for schlepping my scope (stupid 10 pound weight restriction). I was probably looking pretty pitiful shuffling along.

I don't need no stinkin appendix

This would be my inaugural blog from the hospital.  I only manged 2 hours at the lake watch yesterday, woke up feeling like crap but rallied with sotme tylenol and a nap and did get outfor a few hours at midday.  I don't honestly remember if we saw anything, one distant Bairds on the beach maybe.  I didn't get up for it.

Last night felt pain and pressure like I'd never felt before and bit the bullet and went into the hospital.  I don't get NFL network so was going to miss the Bears-Packers game; they do have it at the hospital.  Of course I was in surgery for the 2nd half, not that I missed much, but talk about an expensive ticket to watch a game.  Ah well.

I guess with still having the anesthesia meds and narcotics from yesterday in my system I'm not going to try to make this particularly cohesive.  And I guess I could really ID the stuff as anything and blame it on the drugs.  Tim's seen my ID skillz on no sleep; I could truly be impressive today. 

Anyway, a Philly V from Floral earlier this week

This Red-breasted Nuthatch actually tried to land on my back while I was standing still trying to photograph hummingbirds in the jewelweed with limited success.

Odes are winding down.  This would appear to be an Autumn Meadowhawk based on limited black streaking along the side, some black about the top of the end of the tail.  It was definitely smaller than the average  Ruby Meadowhawk (a few of which are still out).  It also has pale legs and different claspers (hamules?)

Finally a couple skippers, there's been loads of Fiery, European (I think), as well as some Duskies and Indigowings and Checkered-Skippers

Anyway, hopefully my white count comes down this afternoon and they let me go home, keep your fingers crossed.

 

 



Happy 10th, Gull-nasty

The dark-mantled pseudo-kelp hybrid made its annual return to the Lake Michigan shoreline this morning.  It' been an adult since at least 2006 meaning it's at least 10 years old.



Nothing else has its honking bill, rattlesnake-like triangular head and long, long grey-green legs.

As usual it's molting its primaries. Here's the bird in 2011, 2010, 2009 and before.  Last year I emailed Steve Cardiff, one of the LSU researchers who studied the Chandeleur islands Herring-Kelp hybrids.  He said it wasn't one.

I actually have had a ton of good yearbirds in the 2 weeks or so  thanks to considerably expanded UTSJ counts.  A couple different Parasitic Jaegers, Long-tailed Jaeger, Eared Grebe, Whimbrel, Hudsonian Godwit, and Little Gull have all flown past, though most well past photo range.  This Little Gull came close, however it was on top of us before I picked it up and it quickly ducked into the Sun.

Tim immediately started chumming with bread but it never came back.  The closest we came was this young Bonapartes.

It actually has a Black-headed Gull like bit of color at the base of the bill.

For the first few hours today it was super calm.  Tim pointed out the spring peeper like noises in the background which were hundreds of Swainson's thrushes making their way inland high overhead.  As it was pretty calm birds weren't really falling out on the pier though their simple numbers were enough that there was a steady trickle of Palms down the pier.  We had double digit warbler species numbers in the park though the overwhelming majority were Palms.

A Sedge Wren popped out and then took refuge on the escape ladder on the pier's edge before flying off into the grass.

Tiscornia is really the only place I see these birds since they don't ever really seem to tee up for me on their breeding roadsides.

Waiting for Isaac

I missed a Long-tailed Jaeger by 10 or 20 minutes this morning at Tiscornia, but I'd hate to use up all my luck a week before the aftermath of a hurricane gets here.

 

Depending on this young turnstone's flight path s/he may need that bit of that luck as well.

There were 2 juveniles working the pier today for the midges.  I took one photo of a midge's last millisecond just before it disappeared down the turnstone's bill, but it was kind of blurry.

Sometimes they needed a few balance checks while walking on the 3/8 inch balance beam of eroded steel that probably cost them a few tenths on the judges' scorecards.

Their wingstripe is somewhat intermediate between a Sanderling's and a Baird's, not that I would know anything about that.

I tried to get the two in pefect symmetry at one point but they wouldn't quite oblige

After a while the noon pier walkers pushed them right past my chair, inside the 1.5 meter focal distance

They're not quite as bright as the adult turnstones a week or so ago.

The two other photographed birds of note were this sora (which drifted out in the river and was eventually nabbed by a Herring Gull)

and one of ultimately 3 avocets that moved between the beaches

Peep show

Peeps continue to trickle through along the beach.  Baird's Sandpipers have arrived on schedule (though last year I saw only one the entire fall).  I've seen Baird's about a third of the time on about 30 visits to Tiscornia in the 2nd half of August over the years.

While buffy juvenile Semipalmated's do exist, they don't approach the overall buffiness of the entire head and breast of a fresh juvenile Baird's.  The scaliness and long primary projection also help the ID.

Here's another semi for comparison:

It has a shorter bill, primaries that stop at the end of the tail and less overall scaliness.

There was an adult Semi, I think the first one I've seen recently.

It's still in mostly worn breeding plumage with old wing coverts and a lot of worn scapulars, though there're a few gray winter scapulars starting to fill in.

An adult Semi Plover was in similar condition,

a lot of worn wing coverts, but brighter legs and bill base than the fresh juvenile...

mmmm, midges, mmmm

I couldn't find any shorebirds on the beach this morning.  I walked out on the pier to look at the cloud of swallows foraging in the lee of the lighthouse and discovered the reason why.  A large midge hatch covered the lighthouse with mosquito like bugs that the shorebirds were feeding on.  There were about 10 Semipalmated Sandpipers, probably as many as I've ever had at Tiscornia.

The above Semi was a pretty average looking one, but they're pretty variable.  Some of them are quite buffy in fresh juvenile plumage.

The next one (also quite buffy) has a remarkably dinky bill for a semi.

I think its bill is shorter than this Least's:

Finally a larger billed individual that in sunlight doesn't have any buffy tones.  It's bill is in that Semi group that starts to approach a Western's in length (but lacks the droop).  With its feathers sleeked tight in the heat it gives a longer legged look which also could make a person think Western.  Note the evenly scaled scapulars that lack much rufous in the upper ones or black anchor marks in the lower ones.

There were also my first juvenile Bonaparte's Gulls, Forster's Terns, and my first adult Common Tern flock of the fall.

Here's what the birds were feeding on.  Note the cutoff at the base of the lighthouse at about the max of a Sanderling's reach:

a Pistorian turnstone

I had 7 species of shorebird at Tiscornia earlier today.  It usually takes a pretty big front to produce diversity of numbers (I think our max was double digits in the aftermath of the record breaking low in October of 2010), and a big storm did come through 36 hours ago.  Unfortunately yesterday was a Sunday bringing crowds of people to the beach and at least 2 swimmers were fatally swept away in what reportedly were 6-8 foot waves.  Today the lake was calm and birds had accumulated on the rip-rap that had washed in.  They felt like a cosmic 30 pieces of silver. 

Unlike the juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper from last fall, this adult was not as confiding.

You can tell by the replaced scapulars and the worn wing coverts it's an adult.

It took me several tries to guess which direction it was going to work its way towards for it to get even reasonably close.

No such difficulties with the birds foraging in the scum lines, here a juvie Semi Sandpiper

There were 2 Turnstones mixed in with the Sanderlings as well

One of them (the lead out of focus bird) was missing much of a foot though it didn't slow it down very much.

True to its name, the turnstone picked, probed, and rotated one of the shell clumps:

A juvie Least Sandpiper was on the pier, this was probably the best shot I've had of a Least in nice fresh plumage

At close range it has a bit of a split supercilium.   All it has to do is wander 100 miles west, get some mud on its legs, and let stint psychosis explode the Illinois forums.

Finally a bird from last week, one of two Piping Plovers that didn't really fit into a post.