Matt Hafner recently shared this article with me that I found helpful:
http://surfbirds.com/Features/coxpeeps1006/coxpeeps1006.html
I never paid attention to shorebirds until I began working at Cox Creek. Some of the IDs were easy to pick up, and some I still struggle with. (I still send many pics out for confirmation anyway.) For example, I really need to see leg color to differentiate between Least and Semi Sandpipers. I know, I know, rookie move. However, peeps that have been trudging through the mud all have muddy (dark) legs so leg color is really of no use in that situation. It's also common knowledge that Leasts are browner and Semis are grayer, but this is not necessarily helpful if the birds aren't traveling together.
Today I spent some time with the few peeps we have on-site, and just like the article said, the Leasts were feeding along the shore while the Semis were feeding just offshore by wading in the water. Hoping to apply more of the more obscure characteristics mentioned in the article to our on-site birds so I can stop looking at leg color so much.
Hope the article is of use to some of you.
Tim C.
Baltimore/Anne Arundel
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