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September 9, 2004  Legends Of The Fall Of 2004 Frustration soon turned to elation despite what I said in my last column wherein I railed about the difficulty of identifying Shorebirds. I had no idea at the time that these wading conundrums would soon become the highlight of this year’s bird watching. Maybe I didn’t admit it as clearly as I am doing now but the occurrence of 12 species of Shorebirds at one small pond in late August is now written up in my journal as the East Pasture Pond Shorebird Event 2004, sure to go down, if not as legend, definitely as something worth remembering. I found I had so much to say about Shorebirds in that column that I never got into why Shorebirds in particular pose frustrating identity challenges. So what is so hard about identifying Shorebirds? Let’s take last week’s event as an example. Here we had 12 different species of Shorebirds all gathered together on a small pond. Sounds like shooting fish in a barrel, doesn’t it. Well let’s see. First I want to get one thing out of the way although it might just come across as blaming one’s equipment. In tennis I used to remark that’s it’s best not to have all the fancy gear money can buy because after you have it all, the only thing remaining to blame for poor play is yourself. But equipment makes a difference with Shorebirds. First of all Shorebirds favour locations where the water is shallow, the shoreline quite clear of obstructions like grass and reeds, and its just dandy with them if the nearest cover where predators can hide is a long way off. Picture it, big sandy beaches that stretch as far as the eye can see is a many a Shorebird’s idea of paradise. So where does that leave a birder? Either crawling on his belly over open ground in an attempt to close the distance, or some way off comfortably scanning the birds with nothing less than a 30-power scope. I have, for years told myself that I must get a 30 power screw-on lens for my otherwise superb scope but I can never force myself to spend the $90 that it would cost to buy. So I make do with 10 power binoculars and a 20-power lens on a scope. You’ll see later on where magnification would help greatly in picking out details of some of these birds, so don’t just write this equipment complaint off as moaning for the sake of effect. OK, so I still only had a 20-power to deal with so to compensate for my lack of power I learned some stalking skills in a hurry. The first thing I learned was how to deal with the clamourers. Clamourers are birds that you aren’t trying to stalk but birds which are determined to let every wild thing know you are approaching. The first of the clamourers found around a typical pond in early fall are Killdeer. Since they were usually scattered all over the pasture I walked slowly, looking through scope from time to time, so they could see me coming, moving at a less than threatening pace. I found that the slow approach let the Killdeer note my presence, cry loudly to each other for a bit, then fly in one large noisy group to the pond itself or to a nearby area in the pasture. I stood very still while the Killdeer were at their noisiest, thinking that the other birds were likely looking about for trouble at this time. Having cleared the Killdeer out of the way I found that Canada Geese were the next challenge. When Canada Geese see something that makes them nervous they become very animated which I’m sure doesn’t go unnoticed by other birds. They stand tall, flick their heads, move slowly en masse on foot away from the approaching threat, and give occasional calls which I’m sure many birds can interpret as an alarm. Again, a slow approach is best but eventually, unless your approach is very cautious, there will be a thunderous lift off of the whole flock of Canada Geese. If this happens standing very still at the moment they fly is suggested because most birds will stop what they’re doing to assess the threat for themselves. The next group of clamourers are the Ducks. By this time of year each body of water has its regular waterfowl, birds that know the landscape intimately. They know what’s what and what’s out of place, so seeing an approaching human isn’t comforting to them. Despite the slowest approach, they too will eventually take to the air with much quacking and splashing of water. Having to deal with the clamourers makes a trip to the pond sound like a Lord Of the Rings odyssey, nevertheless having passed the test of the three guardian clamourers, you may find yourself in close enough range to the Shorebirds to begin assessing their finer features. Let’s start at the top, the top being the biggest birds on the pond, the Yellowlegs. Both the Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs were present at the pond on several days; one day there were over 50 Lesser Yellowlegs and 4 Greater Yellowlegs and a few days later there were 22 Greater and 4 Lesser. If they occur together consider yourself truly blessed. They are confoundedly similar in every way except size so when they stand together the big ones are the Greater and the smaller the Lesser. But what really got me confused was that on this occasion they were in the company of a Yellowlegs look-alike I had never seen before, a bird called the Stilt Sandpiper. I should have explained earlier that Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and the Solitary Sandpiper are in the group called Tringines and just about the only members of this group you will see locally. I tell you this because it helps. The Stilt Sandpiper, which some say is benefiting from imitating the Yellowlegs, is not a Tringine but a Calidridine. The Stilt looks most like the Lesser Yellowlegs and the best way to tell them apart is to look at the their backs. Tringine’s backs are a charcoal gray with fine dots, whereas a Stilt Sandpiper’s back is scaly; at least that’s how Sibley describes it. I usual describe the feathering as tiled or marked with chevron shapes, a characteristic which reveals its relationship to other Calidridines and not Tringines. Are you enjoying this so far? There are other differences between these two birds. A Stilt Sandpipers legs are every bit as long as the Yellowlegs but are not as bright a yellow. Yellowlegs’ legs are bright yellow. The Stilt Sandpipers’ legs are dull yellow. A Stilt also feeds is a different manner. Whereas the Lesser Yellowlegs rushes about stabbing at food items on the surface, the Stilt probes down into the mud and water, pulling its head back only after a bit of twiddling beneath the surface. The next species that might get mixed up with these three is the Long-billed Dowitcher. In size they go; Greater Yellowlegs 14 inches, Long-billed Dowitcher 11.5 inches, Lesser Yellowlegs 10.5 and the Stilt Sandpiper 8.5 inches, so you’d think size would be some help in identifying which was which. Unfortunately you’d be mistaken because regardless how long their legs are, a bird’s legs aren’t taken into account in the measurement of the birds length. Can you imagine measuring a person’s height without including their leg length? Well that’s how birds are measured, so you end up with a Long-billed Dowitcher standing much lower than a Greater Yellowlegs, a Stilt Sandpiper the same height as the much longer Dowitcher and the Stilt Sandpiper faking it in the middle with its long legs making it the same height as a Lesser Yellowlegs despite its shorter body. In adult breeding plumage there would be no mistaking a Dowitcher for any other common Shorebird because of its obvious reddish colour and very long bill. Unfortunately the non-breeding and immature plumaged birds do leave room for confusion and there were several of these birds present at the pond with the other Shorebirds. Further confusion could be had in separating the Long-billed Dowitcher from the Short-billed Dowitcher, but, suffice it to say, almost any Dowitcher you see in the Cariboo will be the Long-billed. Consult a bird book for the difference in the two if you want to understand the headaches you might encounter. Be advised that Dowitchers encountered on the coast may quite easily be Long or Short-billed. I see I’ve babbled my way onto page four again before getting very far into the various Shorebird species. A friend of mine says writing anything near this long on the Internet is a waste of time since people have shorter attention spans in this medium, so without great fanfare I will say, until next week, keep the big scope handy, the better to Shorebird with. Now look what I’ve done - I ended a sentence with a proposition! To e-mail Tom CLICK HERE To look at previous column CLICK HERE |
