northeast-flora-and-fauna

Before leaving shorebirds for a while, here's another of our Lesser Yellowlegs I saw among 5-6 spring migration shorebirds (most of whom were Solitary Sandpipers ). I'm a little surprised I got an ID on this 1 since it's in deep enough water that it's not possible to evaluate how "leggy" it is, an important differentiator between Lesser Yellowlegs and Solitary Sandpipers. I suspect that the ID was due to: Solitary Sandpipers usually have duller yellow legs than the Lesser Yellowlegs. Solitary Sandpipers generally have a more prominent white eye ring than the Lesser Yellowlegs. In this case we had to rely on subtly subjective clues to get an identification. They are described by All About Birds as having a size between an American Robin and an American Crow . Considering I spot them pretty easily, I thought I'd find that they were much closer in size to crows than robins, but instead they're only slightly longer and heavier than our robins, and m...

Here's another couple of our Solitary Sandpiper buddies who stop by during their spring travels (AKA migration). These pictures were taken the same day and basically the same time as the Solitary Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs in yesterday's post ; as I was photographing 1 I began to notice more and more shorebirds foraging in the area. Despite the solitary in the name, they will forage in the same vicinity if the pickings are good. Having said that, the sandpiper below might not have been foraging, but might be taking a break. I generally expect a typical shorebird [1] to be foraging in shallow water, though I'm sure that if a tasty invertebrate were spotted on a log, the shorebird would have no ethical or culinary qualms about eating it. May 9, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 282305522, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) This next picture is "classic shorebird", standing in shallow water. The ripples centered under the bill suggest it had just poked it...

Here are a couple pictures of 2 species of shorebirds who I usually see during spring migration, a Lesser Yellowlegs and a Solitary Sandpiper .  I wish I could tell you something that will easily distinguish these 2 related species of bird, but pictures like this demonstrate that - seen apart from 1 another - they look pretty similar [1]. Telling them apart on the ground [2] means making somewhat subjective judgments. Although the Solitary Sandpiper generally looks darker, I think the legs (if you can see them) are the better clue. The Lesser Yellowlegs have noticeably longer legs both in absolute length and also in length relative to the body. (Unfortunately both can have yellow legs.) This is 1 of those birds that good bird watchers can probably ID quickly in good lighting and with an unobstructed view, but I frequently find myself going back-and-forth before deciding which bird I'm looking at. Lesser Yellowlegs May 9, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 282305509, (c) jpviolette, some rig...

Last spring I saw a number of shorebirds , most of them migrating through New Jersey to get to more northerly breeding grounds [1]. On this particular day I saw a couple of Solitary Sandpipers in the same general vicinity at the same time. Although they get the "solitary" part of their name because they're frequently found alone, during migration there are probably only a limited number of good way stations available along their route. It's not shocking to see them and/or their larger Lesser Yellowlegs and Greater Yellowlegs cousins working the same area of a river even if they're not purposely flocking together. Solitary Sandpipers may prefer their alone time, but they're not psychopathic about it; these 2 were working different parts of Dukes Brook without any hostility that I could see. May 3, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 278556645, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) May 3, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 278556715, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserve...

This picture was a little obscured by vegetation, but it's my 1st verified Greater Yellowlegs of the season. They are sandpipers , a large family of shorebirds [1]. Their closest relatives in my area are the smaller Lesser Yellowlegs and the Solitary Sandpiper , with all 3 being in the Tringa genus . Though they are the largest of these 3 species, pictures like this 1 probably don't give a strong sense of size. You'll mostly tell them from the Lesser Yellowlegs because the Greater Yellowlegs has a noticeably longer beak relative to the head [2]. In the picture below, the bill certainly appears to be longer than the rest of the head. Similar to their Lesser Yellowlegs and Solitary Sandpiper cousins, I've only seen these birds during migration. They generally spend our winters south of here (some going as far as South America), though some maps suggest they might winter as far north as southern New Jersey and Long Island [3]. These birds should have started migrating b...

During the spring quite a few birds migrate through New Jersey including but not limited to shorebirds like this Solitary Sandpiper . But it's not just New Jersey that's flyover country for these birds; other than a few that overwinter in southern Texas, the lower 48 states are all basically just used during migration. This bird was no doubt hoping to get a bite to eat as it journeyed north to its mostly Canadian breeding grounds. As their name implies, they're frequently seen alone. Though they mostly eat small invertebrates, I wouldn't be surprised if things like tadpoles and small fish get eaten if the opportunity presents itself. Without a strong beak or talons to tear stuff up, they probably only eat what they can swallow whole, and their options are presumably much more limited than those of a much larger bird like a Great Blue Heron . The sandpipers are a fairly large family of birds distributed across the world and consisting of 13 genera. Many of the species d...

Although I frequently see Killdeer away from water, they are taxonomically shorebirds , so perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised to see one along the banks of a stream (Dukes Brook). I don't think they dislike the water, though they are fairly comfortable nesting and foraging away from it [1].  The Killdeer was spotted in April, a time when this area gets quite a few migratory shorebirds. While I'd like to think that the Killdeer was at the shore to socialize with these other shorebirds, having names like Solitary Sandpiper suggests to me that they're not the most social birds in the world. (On the other hand, it does sound like Lesser Yellowlegs will flock together, though whether that sociability extends to Killdeer is uncertain.) April 12, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 272115395, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] FWIW some other shorebirds seem to feel similarly.

Since I got lots of pictures of Solitary Sandpipers last spring, I wanted to share another one. I suspect that all these guys are up north these days since they mostly migrate through New Jersey and the picture was from mid-May. True to its name, this sandpiper was all alone, foraging along a slower part of the Raritan River. I was actually able to get closer to this bird than I expected, though I have to admit that I don't have a strong sense of how human-tolerant they are. Most of the ones I see tend to be a ways away so I assumed they simply were comfortable with me 100 feet or more away. Either the food was especially good in this spot, or the bird didn't perceive me as much of a threat. May 13, 2021 at the Raritan River Greenway Photo 132038048, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's another migratory bird I met last month, a Solitary Sandpiper . Unless I'm misidentifying my shorebirds, these guys are probably one of the most common shorebirds to migrate through my area each year. Apparently these birds aren't often seen in flocks but are instead usually seen alone, hence the solitary part of their name. This particular one was foraging near yesterday's Lesser Yellowlegs , so they're not arch-isolationists. (Maybe they're just a little introverted?) These birds are more closely related to the Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs than they are to the other sandpipers, though the Solitary Sandpiper is noticeably smaller than its yellowlegs cousins. May 4, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 128323676, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)