Seems like the number of Shorebirds in the Duluth area has been slow this migration. However, that now appears to have changed. These two photographs were taken Saturday on some mudflats near the Duluth Harbor. Needed some time to work through all my images to get what I hope are correct ID’s:
-
A Least Sandpiper
-
A pair of Semi-Palmated Plovers
-
A Long-Billed Dowitcher
Shorebirds are tough with all their different plumage versions … breeding vs. non breeding … and then add in juveniles. Uff dah!
And some more images from my Shorebird bonanza!
Semi-Palmated Plover Pair
Pectoral Sandpiper
Long-Billed Dowitcher and a pair of Semi-Palmated Plovers
Lesser Yellowlegs
Least Sandpiper and Long-Billed Dowitcher
Least Sandpiper and a pair of Semi-Palmated Plovers
Long-Billed Dowitcher and a Semi-Palmated Plover
This looks more like a Short-billed Dowitcher to me. You might want to check your photos with Peder Svingen in Duluth.
Bob Janssen
Great photos of birds we rarely have a chance to see. Thank you SO much for bringing these spectacular images to us. I look forward to your daily discoveries.
Thank you so much for your beautiful photos and especially for the ID. As a beginning birder and do not live on the coast this helps a lot. I was wondering what semi-plamnated means? Why is it used as an ID term? Thank you.
Sharon … excellent questions! First the term semipalmated is an ornithological ID term referring to the plover’s webbed front toes; “palmate” means hand-shaped. I learned this from a US Fish and Wildlife site. In addition, I use a free software tool from Cornell named Merlin (photo ID). I have an extensive post on shorebird identification (I am still very much learning myself). Here is the link to my post on identification… https://www.365daysofbirds.com/2017/09/11/shorebird-identification/
Wonderful pictures!