[Birdtalk] Shorebird ID help frw:

[Utah Birds]

  Monday, January 5, 2009 11:43 AM
  From: "Mark Stackhouse"

 Wendy,
You're correct on both your i.d.'s - they are Greater Yellowlegs and Least
Sandpiper. The yellowlegs you can tell from the bill, which is clearly
longer than the head, stout, and slightly upturned. Lesser Yellowlegs has a
bill about equal to the length of the head (about 1.5 times the head length
in Greater), thinner, and straighter. The Least Sandpiper can be told by
non-black legs (they are black in all other expected Utah "peeps," and
greenish to yellowish in Least), the thin, finely tapered bill with a slight
droop at the tip, and the overall tan coloration and especially the dusky
tan breast. All other Utah peeps in winter are whiter on the breast and
grayer overall.

Hope this helps, and good job getting these correct.

And don't worry about being "terrible" at identification of any birds,
especially shorebirds. Remember that the only difference between the
beginning birder and the expert is that the expert has misidentified a whole
lot more birds ;-).

Mark



On Jan 5, 2009, at 11:12 AM, Wendy Wilson wrote:

I ventured out into the freezing weather this morning, to take a look at
what was hanging around Decker Lake.

Several expected species, such as Gulls, Mallards, and Canada Geese.

Also Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, and what I think are Northern Pintail, but
I'm not too familiar with these ducks. I am also terrible at shorebirds, but
I think there was one possible Greater Yellowlegs (maybe lesser, maybe not
even a yellowlegs) and one possible Least Sandpiper. Again, I am not
familiar with these last three, so anyone who is familiar with them, would
you please take a look?

http://picasaweb.google.com/WannWilson/DeckerLake#

They were all at the southwest end of the lake.

Thanks,
Wendy
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