Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 17:19:03 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Fran Saunders Subject: FW: Broad-billed Sandpiper - Plum Island, MA MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I second Laurie's sentiments.... Fran Saunders MOS State Web Site Director http://www.MDBirds.org Silver Spring, MD -----Original Message----- From: NJBirds - NJ Rare Bird Alert Mailing list [mailto:njbirds@Princeton.EDU]On Behalf Of Laurie Larson Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 9:54 AM To: njbirds@Princeton.EDU Subject: Fwd: Broad-billed Sandpiper - Plum Island, MA NJBIRDS, I thought this was of enough interest that I would pass on the alert. For updates, see the link below. Laurie llarson@princeton.edu Begin forwarded message: > From: Barbara Volkle > Date: Wed Sep 11, 2002 7:39:54 AM US/Eastern > To: BIRD_RBA@listserv.arizona.edu > Subject: Broad-billed Sandpiper - Plum Island, MA > Reply-To: Barbara Volkle > > Those wishing to follow reports on this bird should go to > MASSBIRD (the Massachusetts email list) on the Virtual Birder at > http://www.virtualbirder.com/bmail/massbird/latest.html > > This sighting was at the Parker River NWR in Newburyport, MA. > > Thanks to Rick Heil for this report. Way to go! > > Barbara Volkle > Northboro, MA > barb620@world.std.com > > >> Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 21:39:36 -0400 >> Subject: [MASSBIRD] BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER: Plum Island; Tue 9-10-02 >> From: Richard Heil >> >> >> This afternoon around 4:30 PM I studied a bird at the Bill >> Forward >> Pool on Plum Island, MA that I am convinced was a BROAD-BILLED >> SANDPIPER, >> probably a worn juvenile. The bird was actively feeding in shallow >> water >> just behind the close "island" flat that cormorants often roost on, >> and >> well known to local birders. The sandpiper was in close company of >> several Semipalmated and White-rumped Sandpipers, and a few >> Short-billed >> Dowitchers. I walked down the dike and approached the birds to a >> distance of perhaps 80-100 yards, all in excellent light, with the >> sun at >> my back. After studying the bird through my Kowa cranked to 60X for >> 10-15 minutes, a juvenile Peregrine came through and put up all the >> birds, most of which departed the area and did not return over the >> course >> of the next two hours. I had not relocated the bird by 6:30 PM, by >> which >> time the tide had started to drop and most of the birds had likewise >> vacated the impoundment. >> >> Brief description: >> >> Size: Direct side by side comparison with SESA's and WRSA's: Only >> slightly larger, but noticeably more attenuated (longer winged) than >> juvenile Semi; Clearly smaller bodied and shorter than adjacent adult >> White-rumps. >> >> Bill: Dramatic!!! : Very thick appearing from side profile(never had >> good straight on view), particularly the basal half, but remaining >> remarkably thick for most of its length, but gradually tapering near >> the >> tip. It was nearly straight for 3/4 or more of its length, then a >> slight >> downward droop. The bill was clearly longer than that of adjacent >> WRSA's >> and appeared longer than the birds entire head length. Bill color >> appeared uniformly black. >> >> Head: Bold, very broad, very obvious clean white supercilliary, >> especially expanded anterior to the eye, but remaining broad well to >> the >> rear of the head. Much less obvious and at times difficult to see >> were >> the very fine lateral stripes above and parallel to the super through >> the >> dark grayish-brown crown. At times I doubted that I had really seen >> them. Likewise, I had a hard time discerning precisely where these >> split >> off from the super. The face was generally very pale, and the throat >> seemingly unmarked, but there was a well defined somewhat narrow dark >> stripe running through the eye ending with an expanded post occular >> dark >> blotch. On this generally pale face the dark eye seemed >> dis-proportinally large and black. The dark lores and black bug eye >> only >> served to increase the long, very heavy-billed appearance. The sides >> of >> the neck and nape were finely streaked and with a slight but >> noticeable >> buffy tone. >> >> Underparts: Mostly pure white. Sides of the breast had some very >> soft, >> but fairly dense grayish-brown streaks over a slight buffy tone. I'm >> not >> sure if these streaks went completely across the breast. No streaking >> noticed on flanks which appeared unmarked. >> >> Upperparts and closed wings: Mantle, Scaps, coverts, and tertials >> with >> no strong patterns, rather uniformly grayish brown centers with narrow >> paler grayish-white fringes. The edges of the mantle and the scaps >> had a >> very slight hint of rufous, and there was only a slight suggestion of >> any >> white lines on the back. The carpal area (marginal coverts) at the >> bend >> of the closed wing was blackish, which contrasted markedly with the >> paler >> gray coverts of the rest of the wing. This dark patch was very >> noticeable and stood in stark contrast to the much more uniform wings >> of >> adjacent juv. SEMI's. >> >> Legs: Not seen at all. The bird was feeding in water up to the >> bottom of >> its belly along with all the other surrounding peeps. Its foraging >> behaviour was straight up and down Stilt Sand fashion, as it slowly >> walked about. >> >> >> Rick Heil >> S.Peabody,MA rsheil@juno.com Subscribe to "NJBIRDS," New Jersey rare bird alerts by e-mail: Subscribers log in to suspend mail, change address: ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================