Photo Quiz

New York in September

Email us at boomchachalaca@gmail.com with species, age, and the name of the plumage by Thursday, May 17.  The solution and names of the winners will be posted on Friday.

Long day of Shorebird Mist-netting

By Luke Musher

Semipalmated Sandpiper, Heislerville Shorebird Impoundment, Cumberland county, NJ

Yesterday we set up mist nets at the Heislerville shorebird impoundments, one of our usual banding locales.  On the bright side, there were thousands of birds, and many more thousands than we've been having at this spot.  The only problem was that they weren't flying into our nets!  We caught 17 birds during our 11 hours (!!!) in the field - 15 Least Sandpipers, and 3 Semipalmated Sandpipers.  Needless to say, we were very bored most of the day.  The highlights were watching World Series of Birding teams rushing by, sorting through the hoards of shorebirds, and taking tons of photos.  

A young South African birder came by and told us about a male Wilson's Phalarope he found. Unfortunately I couldn't leave my post and the bird was in with thousands of shorebirds that were completely backlit for me.  I radioed Tom Magarian, who was at the mist nets across the impoundment, and so in better light.  He was able to locate the bird.  I thought I had the phalarope silhouette for a few seconds, but then lost it after adjusting my scope - rookie mistake.  Shorebirds I did see throughout the day included Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitcher, Least, Semipalmated, and White-rumped Sandpipers, and three flyover American Oystercatcher.  A Merlin kept the flock moving around for a little while in the middle of the day.  Tom and the rest of the crew on the other side of the impoundment watched it catch and fly off with a peep.

Our nets...without birds in them.

Oh look a flock of 17 Least Sandpiper right by our nets.  None of them got caught.

Fish or American Crow?  A good photo quiz, perhaps. Comment on this post with thoughts. (Hint: look at wing shape)

Least Sandpiper, Heislerville Shorebird Impoundment, Cumberland county, NJ

Black Skimmer, Heislerville Shorebird Impoundment, Cumberland county, NJ

Clapper Rail, Heislerville Shorebird Impoundment, Cumberland county, NJ

Pretty, pretty, pretty cute

So many shorebirds present. Here, mostly Semipalmated Sandpiers and Short-billed Dowitchers with a couple Dunlin and Semipalmated Plovers

Short-billed Dowitcher, Heislerville Shorebird Impoundment, Cumberland county, NJ

Woosh Netting at Fortescue

By Lukas Musher

Paris getting ready to take blood from this Short-billed Dowticher [Photo by Luke Musher]

As many of you know, I've recently started a job banding shorebirds for NJ Audubon.  On Wednesday we set up a type of net called a woosh net with the hopes of catching our first Semipalmated Sandpipers (our main study species) of the year.  Although there were several hundred shorebirds (will soon be a few thousand) present, we only caught about 20 Short-billed Dowitchers and 2 Dunlin.  Not too bad.

There are tons of horseshoe crabs spawning on the bay shore right now, and Fortescue is a good place to watch.  While they're spawning the shorebirds and gulls are present in large numbers.  Yesterday there were Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, 2 Red Knot, Semipalmated and Black-bellied Plovers, Sanderling, Dunlin, and Short-billed Dowitchers including a beautiful hendersoni.

[Photo by Bruno Almeida]

Woosh nets operate a lot like a cannon net, except that it is fired by bungee chord instead of by cannon.  Two poles are stuck into the sand and act as a guide for the net when it is fired.  When the birds get within range of the net it is fired by pulling a string that pulls pins our allowing the bungees to release.  Watch: 

[Photo by Bruno Almeida]

[Photo by Bruno Almeida]

[Photo by Bruno Almeida]

[Photo by Bruno Almeida]

FIRE! [Photo by Bruno Almeida]

[Photo by Bruno Almeida]

[Photo by Bruno Almeida]

More Fox Sparrow Love

By Cory Ritter

It's just really hard not to love Fox Sparrows. All of the Fox Sparrows have gone from Whitefish Point, but I was looking back and reminiscing about the good old days when I could go sit by the feeders after the hawk count and watch these guys.

Photo Quiz 5/3/12 Solution

Another interesting bird.  Steve Howell saw me showing this photo to a friend of mine in November and jokingly remarked, "Well, it's either a Baltimore Oriole or a Yellow-throated Vireo, so it's a Pine Warbler," and he was right.  The large bill, long tail, yellow wash, and bold eye-ring are all very typical of Pine Warbler.

The classic tough fall warbler trio is Pine, Blackpoll, and Bay-breasted, but female fall Blackburnian Warblers can look quite similar as well.  I'm going to avoid taking the time to explain why it's not these species, but instead explain why it is a Pine Warbler.

One of the first things I look for to distinguish Pine Warbler from the others is the eye ring.  This bird has a fairly obvious one.  This bird is relatively large-billed and long-tailed.  That is another helpful way to rule out the others.  The white spots on the tail created by black edges to the rectrices and a black border to the undertail coverts is also typical.  Also note the relatively weak wingbars.

Lot's of good answers and tries, and congrats to the winners:
Mike Biros
Conor Higgins
Ryan Ford
Ryan McDermott

Feel free to comment on this post or email us at boomchachalaca@gmail.com with questions or concerns.

~Luke

Two Shorebirds

By Luke Musher
Our first day in the field for my shorebird technician position was slow (and buggy!!!) today, but at least we got to handle two species.  The first bird was a Least Sandpiper, and the second was a Short-billed Dowitcher.  Check it -

Expect more of this soon.  We should catch upwards of 1500 Semipalmated Sandpipers by the begining of June along with Dunlin, Semipalmated Plover, and these two.  There's always the chance of Curlew Sandpiper at Heislerville!

Photo Quiz

Brewster county, Texas in November

Time for another photo quiz!  Identify this bird by Sunday, May 6.  Email us with your answers at boomchachalaca@gmail.com.  The solution and the names of the winners will be posted thereafter.

~Luke