Photo Study Of Shorebirds At E.B. Forsythe NWR (Brigantine), May 21st, 2011

    The five days of rain and overcast skies were wonderful this week for the birders. The fallout of migrants, shorebirds and vagrants in Pennsylvania and New Jersey made lots of
    people happy.  But the picture takers had to stay home. Yesterday, the weatherman, promised sunshine at Brig, although the light was still tricky and the tides worked against
    us. Nevertheless, there were many thousands of shorebirds all over the place which more than made up for any photographic difficulties.

Short-billed Dowitcher Coloring Up

     The Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus), like its congener the Long-billed Dowitcher, is a medium-sized (12 inches), stocky, long-billed shorebird in the family
     Scolopacidae. It is an inhabitant of North America, Middle America, and northern South America. It is strongly migratory; it completely vacates in breeding areas during
     the snow-bound months. This species favors a variety of habitats including tundra in the north to ponds and mudflats in the south. It feeds on invertebrates often by rapidly
     probing its bill into mud in a sewing machine fashion.  Their breeding habitat includes bogs, tidal marshes, mudflats or forest clearings south of the tree line in northern North
     America, especially northern Québec, north central Canada and southern Alaska. These birds nest on the ground, usually near water. Their nests are shallow depressions in
     clumps of grass or moss, which are lined with fine grasses, twigs and leaves. They lay four, sometimes three, olive-buff to brown eggs. Incubation lasts for 21 days and is done
     by both sexes.The downy juvenile birds leave the nest soon after hatching. Parental roles are not well known, but it is believed the female departs and leaves the male to tend
     the chicks, which find all their own food. These birds forage by probing in shallow water or on wet mud. They mainly eat insects, mullosks, crustaceans and maritime worms
     but also eat some plant material. The Short-billed Dowitchers migrate to the southern United States and as far south as Brazil. This bird is more likely to be seen near ocean
     coasts during migration than the Long-billed Dowitcher. This species occurs in western Europe only as an extremely rare vagrant. The call of this bird is more mellow than
   ` that of the Long-billed Dowitcher, which is useful in identification, particularly of the difficult adult plumages. (Cornell BNA; Wikipedia; Sibley Guide To Birds)

American Oystercatcher

Black-bellied Plover

Dunlin In Breeding Plumage

Forster's Tern

Our Friendly Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk Still Poses For Visitors Between The Nature Center And Gull Tower

Least Sandpiper
 

     Species Seen Today:

    To see an enlarged image of any of the photos below, please click on either the thumbnail or the caption...thanks!

     © Howard B. Eskin 2011      Please email your comments to hbeskin@voicenet.com    Please click here to go back to Bird Webpage Index