Wednesday 15 August 2012

Embrace Your Common Name Day at the marsh...

It's always nice when birds decide to live up to their name.  At Tod Creek Flats yesterday, the shorebirds were showing off according to the names we've given them.  I had amazing looks at a Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria) all by its lonesome.

Surely Solitary Sandpipers are the lone wolves of the waders

I had some taller shorebirds with yellow legs, with some looking larger than the others.  Oh isn't that quaint - Greater Yellowlegs (T. melanoleuca) right next to a Lesser Yellowlegs (T. flavipes) offering a great comparison.

This Greater Yellowlegs is looking tall!  Note the two-toned bill that is slightly upturned.

Lesser Yellowlegs are more petite and have a shorter bill that is pretty uniform and much straighter

Unfortunately these two weren't in the same plane (not airplane!), but it gives a nice sense of scale between the Lesser (front) and Greater (back) Yellowlegs

I did see one other shorebird species out there and let's just say I was glad it wasn't living up to its name: Killdeer.

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