[obol] Shorebirds & terns this weekend, Florence to Waldport

[Joel Geier]

Hello folks,

Just back in the door from a weekend at the beach with Steve & Kelly
Dougill and our respective kids. In & around camping, tidepooling,
sandcastling, hide-and-seek in the dunes etc. we saw quite a good 
variety of shorebirds.

The shorebirds & related birds this weekend were spectacular:

Black-bellied Plover - Steve & Kelly saw a couple
Semipalmated Plover  - lots at Sutton Beach on Saturday, a few at
                        Florence
SNOWY PLOVER         - one at Sutton Beach on Saturday.
Killdeer             - one probable fly-by at Florence Sunday morning.
Black Oystercatcher  - Steve saw some at Heceta Head
AMERICAN AVOCET      - One in winter plumage was on beach at Rock
                        Creek (Lane Co.) on Saturday evening, standing
                        around with the gull flock.
Greater Yellowlegs   - About five at Eckman Slough on Monday, high tide.
Whimbrel             - Several flocks at Sutton Beach.
Marbled Godwit       - Flyby flock at Sutton Beach, one at Florence.
Wandering Tattler    - One on rocks at Rock Creek beach Saturday.
Ruddy Turnstone      - Two flying along Florence south jetty Sunday.
Black Turnstone      - Best views were a dozen at the crab dock in
                        Waldport, at 20-30 ft enjoyed by all kids.
Sanderling           - Several dozen mixed in with Western Sandpiper
                        flocks at Sutton Beach on Saturday.
Western Sandpiper    - Multiple hundreds, mainly at Sutton Beach.
Least Sandpiper      - A few at Florence and then Eckman Slough.
Pectoral Sandpiper   - One, maybe two flybys at Sutton Beach.
Short-billed Dowitcher - Three calling juvs on outer estuary at
                          Florence.
Red-necked Phalarope - One at Sutton Beach, one off s. jetty at
                        Florence, plus a flock of 40 presumed this
                        species flushed off the water by ...
LONG-TAILED/PARASITIC JAEGER - coursing over the water at Rock Creek.
                        Very slim and long-winged looking so we
                        favored Long-tailed.
PARASITIC JAEGER     - Steve picked out a couple in sea watches.
California Gull      - Hundreds roosting at Rock Creek beach, all ages.
Herring Gull         - One immature on the crab docks at Waldport.
Glaucous-winged Gull - Surprisingly few apparent pure ones,
                        more Western x Glaucous-winged hybrids.
Western Gull         - Hundreds especially at Rock Creek beach.
Heermann's Gull      - A couple of immatures at Rock Creek beach.
Caspian Tern         - A few flying along the beaches.
ELEGANT TERN(probable) - Sutton Beach on Saturday, see notes below.
Common Tern          - A couple of fly-bys at Sutton Beach.

On the Elegant Tern, Steve spotted this bird standing on Sutton Beach 
while we were searching for a shorter-billed peep which we were hoping 
might be a Semipalmated Sandpiper (though we wound up concluding it must 
have been a shorter-billed Western after observing what we thought was 
the same flock later on).

The tern was intermediate in size (between Caspian and Common/Arctic) 
with a long bill, thinner than Caspian's, which was uniformly 
yellow-orange, distinctly decurved toward the tip.

The bird had a black cap but with a white forehead (not as extensive as 
on young Royal Tern). Back was pale gray with a darker, fairly distinct 
carpal bar (though not as dark as on Common Tern).

The tern had fairly longish yellowish legs in proportion to body size, 
with the "knee" (tarsal?) joint of the legs clearly standing out from 
the belly feathers, not adjacent as on smaller terns. The wingtips 
projected well behind the tail.

We would have called this bird a definite Elegant Tern based on bill 
shape and proportions, except we were not sure about the carpal bar. 
Illustratons in Sibley show some hint of this but not as definite as 
what we saw. The extent was more like that shown for juvenile Royal 
Tern, but the bill shape was definitely more like Elegant than Royal Tern.

We are wondering if the apparent carpal bars might have been a retained 
trait from juvenile plumage. Pointers to photos which show the range of 
variation in imm. Elegant Tern would be appreciated.

Good birding,
Joel

P.S. Two Lesser Yellowlegs still hanging out at Toketie Marsh near our 
place between Monmouth and Corvallis when we got home were a nice 
additon to the weekend's shorebird list.

--
Joel Geier
jgeier at attglobal.net