Re: [MDOsprey] Re: Dowitchers, etc.

Miliff@aol.com
Tue, 27 Jul 1999 18:05:08 EDT


Bob et al.,

One more interesting note concerning Long-billed Dowitcher.  This weekend I 
helped out with two of Brian Patteson's boat trips off the North Carolina 
Coast.  Not many seabirds of particular note (one South Polar Skua on Sunday 
was by far the best bird) but we did have Willet, Purple Martin, and 
Brown-headed Cowbird offshore.  Most unusual though, was on Sunday I HEARD a 
series of high single notes from a bird behind me.  I whipped around and to 
my surprise saw a dowitcher flying past (I had expected a landbird).  I 
instantly made the connection that it was a Long-billed Dowitcher and was 
able to observe the bright reddish underparts that extended to the undertail 
coverts.  George Armistead also saw the bird and independantly identified it, 
by call, as a Long-billed Dowitcher.  So that was July 25 - my first July 
record.

Best,

Marshall Iliff
miliff@aol.com