Post #168 - Hybrid post: Half Bike-birding, Half Photography (Godwitpalooza!)

I don't know about the rest of California, but a number of long-time San Mateo County birders have lamented a historically-slow fall migration in our parts. I struggled to find Yellow and Orange-crowned Warblers on many days, and the county felt generally devoid of vagrants with the exceptions of southwestern strays Lucy's Warbler and Vermilion Flycatcher, both at Coyote Point. San Francisco seems to have experienced a decent fall push from what my inexperienced can discern from message boards, but I'd be interested to hear about migration in other parts of the Bay Area or Golden State.

That question posed, I did add Chestnut-sided Warbler (CSWA) to my Bay Area bike list (#293) in Golden Gate Park since my last post. Initially reported on October 9th, the bird continued through the 11th at North Lake where I caught up with it. The eastern CSWA regularly stays to California in fall, and I'd passed on several opportunities to pursue the species knowing others would present at more opportune times if I didn't find my own example in the meantime. The below eBird graphic reveals lots of Bay Area sightings, the orange pins representing those between September 11 and October 11 of this year, so it was inevitable I'd intersect the species at some point.

Bay Area eBird CSWA records and the GG Park bird I observed

The 43-mile round-trip took ~3.25 hours 

with traffic lights and other nonsense.

Less likely in the Bay Area was Hudsonian Godwit (HUGO, #294), a tundra nester which migrates through the center and eastern parts of the continent, and the bird hadn't been recorded in San Mateo County prior to October 14th, the day when Dan and Dave Sidle found one on Tunitas Creek Beach. I was having lunch with Alvaro Jaramillo in Half Moon Bay when the belated report came through midday on the 15th, but I passed on driving for the would-be state bird that afternoon despite dining just 8 miles from it. Instead, I biked the 22 miles from my apartment the following morning, the 16th. I reached Tunitas at 8:45am and immediately intersected die-hard California county birder Jim Lomax as he exited the beach. When the crafty veteran informed me the HUGO had been joined by a Bar-tailed Godwit* (BTGO, initially noted by Dave Webber), I raced down the bluff to observe both vagrants associating with ~40 Marbled Godwits (MAGOs). It was a pretty incredible morning. 

*Some might recall my successful pursuit of BTGO in Alameda County in July. With details about that Alaskan/Eurasian vagrant at the link, I won't rehash them here.

 L to R: Jackass, Lomax, HUGO, BTGO, MAGO

Hudsonian Godwit migration and California eBird records.

Left image modified from this website. It has much HUGO info.

44 miles round trip, two climbs over Route 92.

As you can see from the above phone-scoped shots, I did not have a DLSR with me on the bicycle. (I carry binoculars and scope+tripod or 7D2+100-400, depending on where I'm going.) The vagrants and attending MAGOs seemed very comfortable with birders and photographers during my bike-based visit, so I returned in the car with my big rig the following morning. Zero beachgoers and a relatively flat-pitched beach made for fantastic shooting, and I was able to walk out with nice shots of Hudsonian and Bar-tailed. Here are four of the better frames, the last being my favorite. Fog and cloud made for constantly shifting light and backgrounds, so each shot has a slightly different feel to it. Marbled included mostly for reference.

***click images to see larger***

Marbled Godwit - Limosa fedoa

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX2

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 400, manual mode

Hudsonian Godwit - Limosa haemastica

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX2

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 640, manual mode

Bar-tailed Godwit - Limosa lapponica

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX2

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 640, manual mode

Bar-tailed Godwit - Limosa lapponica

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX2

1/2500 at f/5.6, ISO 800, manual mode

Post #167 - Early-fall bike-birding update

Well, without my childhood Philadelphia Phillies or my adopted Boston Red Sox in playoff contention this fall, it's been a steady diet of migration through September and into October. We've had a some nice surprises on the peninsula, and this quick post will highlight three I've intersected on my bicycle. 

I've poached a lot of previously found/reported birds in the last few months, so it was nice to find my own Lucy's Warbler at Coyote Point on September 9th. eBird reveals 1 to 2 Bay Area sightings a year for the last ten, almost all between September and February, so the species is rare but regular around here. The last San Mateo County record was from February of 2017 (I was still living in LA), and I intersected my Bay Area bike-first at a Lake Merced stakeout in San Francisco in December of that year. So, the Coyote Point bird wasn't new for my cumulative Bay Area bike list but was new for the San Mateo County subset of that project (#261). Can't argue with convenience.....

Lucy's Warbler range (left) and Bay Area sightings (right)

Heavily cropped Lucy's Warbler record shots

Coyote convenience........

Coyote Point delivered again on September 22 when Ron Thorn found a Vermilion Flycatcher 50 feet from where I found the Lucy's. Another generally desert/southwestern species as far as the US is concerned, the bird appears in the Bay Area slightly less frequently than Lucy's Warbler. A cooperative adult male spent 8 weeks at Joseph Grant County Park east of San Jose between July and September, but I couldn't afford the overnight chase that individual would have required. I learned about the more convenient Coyote Point bird fifteen minutes after its discovery, and my understanding wife granted me a stay on chores while I tried for it. ('Understanding' is probably the understatement of the century given that she let me ride away for a year in 2014.) I relocated the bird near its discovery point moments after arriving, clicked a quick record shot, and raced home 10 minutes later. It was a shameless tick-and-run, but that's what circumstances dictated.

Northern part of Vermilion Flycatcher Range (left)

All Bay Area eBird records (right)

A distant and heavily cropped Vermilion Flycatcher record shot.

Bay Area bike bird #291

I'll move from San Mateo to San Francisco for the final bird of this installment. Yellow-green Vireo is a Mexican and Central America species which is rare but regular along the California Coast; between 0 and 3 individuals have been eBirded from the Bay Area each of the last ten falls. A Golden Gate Park representative was discovered on Friday, September 27th and remained until Monday the 30th when I was able to catch up with it near Stow Lake. The vireo is one of only a handful of ABA coded birds I've observed from my bike in the Bay Area - Tufted Duck (3), Red-footed Booby (4, discounting Hawaii), Ruff (3) Dusky Warbler (4) - so it was really nice to add it after the 3-day delay. Interestingly, the only other time I've observed this species was in San Diego during my 2014 bicycle Big Year. So, yeah, there's that useless bit of trivia. 

Yellow-green Vireo range (left) and California eBird records (right)

Yellow-green Vireo - Bay Area bike bird #292

My Yellow-Green Vireo chase

And since I've offered only crappy records shots, here's a proper frame to end. Cheers.....

Marbled Godwit - Limosa fedoa

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/5000 at f/4.5, ISO 400, handheld

Click image for large/better view

Post #166 - Late-summer Bay Are bike-birding update

I'd like to apologize for withholding the bike-birding goodness I dispensed through spring and early-summer. Production took a bit of hit after my Bar-tailed Godwit triumph because I was traveling and moving, but I've been able to crank out a fresh batch by cobbling together some late-summer highlights. Please use sparingly; otherwise you might find yourself pedaling great distances in search of birds!

Roody the Beagle tries bike-birding!

Anyway, let's start with Semipalmated Sandpiper (SESA), a mostly central and eastern shorebird which puts in regular fall cameos along the Pacific Coast. The bird is annual at the bottom of San Francisco Bay between late-July and mid-September, but rides in that direction are tough from San Mateo; it's ~60 miles round-trip and the return 30 are usually plagued by northwestern headwinds which gather through the day (recall my Bell's Vireo ass-kicking in June). Fortunately, Dominic Mosur found a SESA at Yosemite Slough in SF, a location just 17 miles north of my apartment (return ride with tailwind). The report came in late on July 23, and I wasn't able to try for it on either the 24th or 25th. However, a second sighting from late on the 25th suggested I make an attempt on the morning of the 26th. That proved a wise decision, and I found the bird foraging on the same shoreline from which the previous reports came. Fortunately, I had a better view of the bird before I took the fairly awful shot below.

Phone-scoped Semipalmated Sandpiper - Bay Area bike bird #288

My 34-mile ride to Yosemite Slough for Semipalmated Sandpiper

SESA claimed, I shifted my attention to Wilson's Phalarope (WIPH), another shorebird which visits San Francisco Bay between late-July and mid-September. Reports of dozens or hundreds of individuals from from Sunnyvale and Alviso are fairly common, and all it takes to find this bird is to make a concerted effort in those areas during the indicated season. I figured I'd search for WIPH while pursuing something more pressing, like SESA, but unusually light winds made July 28 ripe for a dedicated effort. I had no difficulty finding a group of 23 birds in Sunnyvale, and I took an extended detour on the way home to add Pygmy Nuthatch to my Santa Clara County bike list. I've fallen into the county bike-birding trap, but only for San Francisco, San Mateo (homebase), Santa Clara, and Alameda, at least for now.

Phone-scoped Wilson's Phalarope - Bay Area bike bird #289

My 58-mile ride to Sunnyvale for Wilson's Phalarope

I'll round out this set with the Common Tern (COTE), an uncommon species here in the Bay Area. They're mostly likely to be encountered offshore on fall pelagics, but they occasionally grace the front beaches and SF bayshore. Ron Thorn noted a COTE at Coyote Point County Park on August 21, and I encountered what I assume was the same individual in the course of some general birding at the same site the following afternoon. Coyote Point is just 3/4 mile from my apartment, so it was really nice to add a 'free bird' after organizing and expending effort to ride for the previous two!

Phonescoped Common Tern - Bay Area bike bird #290

That's it for this installment. Fall is sure to deliver at least a few surprises, so I'll cook-up another update as birds materialize. Only 10 species more to reach 300 self-powered Bay Area birds!

Oh yeah, my favorite shorebird subjects have returned to SF Bay for the winter after their breeding absence. Here are two from the first September tide cycle at my local spot. The tides are only right 4 out of every 14 days, so it's a burst of shooting followed by a bunch of waiting. Second cycle hits Sept 28-31, so stay tuned for more. 

Willet (L) and Marbled Godwit (R)

Post #165 - Should eBird charge platform users?

While hanging out with eBird staffers Brian Sullivan and Mike Kelling on a recent Alvaro's Adventure's pelagic trip, I asked if the eBird brass had ever considered a user fee. There aren't plans for one, but I couldn't help wonder more about the benefits and drawbacks of that proposition. This post explores those thoughts.

Let me start by professing my undying admiration (love?) for eBird. An ingenious and intuitive interface, the open-access database organizes my sightings, outputs lists for every imaginable geography, and functions as a permanent record of my birding history. Synergy guarantees that every user - active or casual - benefits at a level greater than his/her individual contribution, and the pooled data are an invaluable resource for trip planning and list building. The platform has become an integral part of my birding experience, and I wish it had existed when I started birding as a seven-year-old Philadelphia pinhead. I am envious of generations who have their entire birding histories archived in one electronic place.

My goal is to color in this map with birds,
experiences, and personal connections.

Given the utility the platform offers, I find it surprising eBird hasn't asked data depositors for a direct financial contribution. Wait, why depositors? Well, folks who deposit data usually want their sightings curated into nicely organized lists (that takes engineering dollars, right?) Data depositors are also the most likely to use the platform's advanced features - Target Species, Top 100, etc - to further their own birding interests (more engineering dollars). Sure, eBird needs depositors to exist, but most birders deposit their birding data in the database for their own benefit, not eBird's. Fortunately, the interests of users and platform are coincident, and putting data anywhere else - local hard drives and pieces of paper included - is a comparative waste of time and synergy. And yes, eBird has outsourced the cost of data acquisition (i.e. optics, transportation) to users, but any user who wants to be credited for that unavoidable birding overhead is smoking hella crack. Synergy assures eBird does more for each data depositor than vice versa, so we're all getting more than we put in anyway.

Collecting eBird data in Colombia

So, tell me data depositors: What is eBird worth to you? Forget the obvious favor you're doing the platform and put an annual value on the user side of the admittedly-symbiotic relationship. I'd happily cough up $50/year to deposit my data, have it curated, and benefit from eBird's many user-specific features. I know, I know - eBird has thrived without charging users, so why start now? Well, here are  two hypothetical benefits of implementing a user fee.

1) Revenue could be used to engineer additional features into the platform. A person-to-person contact feature into which users could opt, a carbon-free checklist designation to encourage 'green birding', and voice-responsive data entry for the phone app are some ideas. I'm sure readers have dozens of others, and I love to hear them in the comments section (much better than emails since everyone can read comments).

2) I've long thought a 'birding license' an interesting idea. Hunters and fisherman need licenses, the fees often going to support conservation, so why shouldn't the same be required of birders? (And yeah, I realize hunting and fishing extract biological resources whereas birding does not.) I know an eBird registration/maintenance fee wouldn't have the same conservation value, but an eBird fee - and having one's name, sightings, and numbers show up in the database - would signify a person's desire/willingness to contribute to citizen-science and facilitate the community synergy I described.

Great Egret - Adrea alba

Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/3200 at f/8, ISO 800

There are, however, an equal or greater number of reasons why a user fee would hurt the platform. Here are a few (feel free to mention others in comments). 

1) A fee structure will motivate some percentage of current users to quit the platform and therefore contract the amount of data deposited. If input drops 1%, then it doesn't matter; if it drops 30%, then that's a problem. I suspect most data comes from loyal users - the sort who would sacrifice a lot if they abandoned the platform - so it's doubtful the loss of even large numbers of casual users who submit 6 checklist a year (or only accept shared checklists) would be significant. eBird is like cocaine; it doesn't take much to get addicted and there aren't a lot of casual users.

2) I realize any fee will hit birders at the lower end of the economic spectrum hardest, but the vast majority of American birders are in a financial position to afford $50/year. More concerning for me is how any hypothetical fee would hit international birders, specifically in developing countries where $50 might be a more significant sum. The loss of those users would be a big blow to the database.

3) I imagine some of eBird's current funding is contingent on the platform remaining open-access (i.e. free to all). It's really cool that anyone can use the platform as is, but I wonder it would ever make financial sense for eBird to institute a fee. Someone at Cornell has probably done the cost-benefit analysis, but their financial situation might change in the future.

So where does all this leave us? Well, there's an easy way to reconcile everything I've discussed above; in lieu of a user fee, financial-able eBird users should donate to The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Alternatively, it's also possible to become an official lab 'supporter' for just $44/year (link for that honor here). While the lab should not be reduced to a single project, I'm going to look at the maintenance of my newly-established membership as my annual eBird user fee. I'm honestly a bit embarrassed it took me so long to make the connection between eBird's value and my individual ability to support the lab, and I hope this post will help others from making a similar mistake. If you're an eBird user and already donate, then I'm sorry for dragging you through this! If a few people donate as a result of this silly post, then all users will benefit, right?

Next up? More distractionary drivel from my feeble bird brain, in some form or other........

If you missed the last post, check it out - it's loaded with photos of Black Skimmers and American Oystercatchers. 

American Oystercatcher - Haematopus palliatus

Canon 600mm f/4 IS on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/4000 at f/5.6, ISO 640

Extreme bokeh - all blurring in camera, not in photoshop

Black Skimmer - Rynchops niger

Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO II on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/5000 at f/5.6, ISO 640

Just kept that upper/right wing!

Post #164 - Photographing nesting skimmers, terns, and oystercatchers at Nickerson Beach, Long Island

While visiting my family outside Philadelphia earlier this month, I snuck away for a few days of photography on Long Island. The renowned Nickerson Beach (eBird hotspot) in Nassau County is three hours from Philly (and just an hour from Central Manhattan) and heathy numbers of nesting American Oystercatchers, Common Terns, and Black Skimmers guarantee the spot heavily photographed between May and August. Chicks of those species are the main attraction, and the near constant presence of people renders Nickerson's nesters very approachable. I'd seen many memorable frames from Nickerson over the years, so I was stoked to have my first crack at this spot during my recent East Coast swing.

I'll hold the Nickerson logistics and strategies until later and offer 11 photos to show what's possible at this fantastic site. I'd planned to shoot skimmer chicks, but the presence of other photographers with their lenses trained on the same and limited number of photogenic examples was a turnoff. I want unique frames, so I abandoned the chicks, found my own space, and focused on photographing flying skimmers and feeding shorebirds instead. I had to adapt my plan, but I walked away with frames other shooters overlooked or found too challenging. My arms were useless after swinging the DX2 and 600mm for 2-3 hours each morning! Every shot in the post was taken handheld (i.e. without a tripod).

***Click the first image for a larger view, then

arrow through the rest in that better format***

Black Skimmer (with Killie minnow) - Rynchops niger 

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/1600 at f/5.6, ISO 1600

Lucky this was sharp with the slow shutter!

American Oystercatcher (with sand flea) - Haematopus palliatus

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 1250

American Oystercatcher - Haematopus palliatus

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 800

Black Skimmer (with needlefish) - Rychops niger

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 800

American Oystercatcher - Haematopus palliatus

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/4000 at f/5.6, ISO 500

Black Skimmer - Rynchops niger

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 640

Ruddy Turnstone - Arenaria interpres

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/4000 at f/5.6, ISO 640

Ruddy Turnstone - Arenaria interpres

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/4000 at f/5.6, ISO 640

American Oystercatcher - Haematopus palliatus

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/4000 at f/5.6, ISO 640

American Oystercatcher (with Sand Flea) - Haematopus palliatus

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/2000 at f/8, ISO 800

Black Skimmer - Rynchops niger

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 640

So, yeah, Nickerson is pretty sweet! Now, onto logistics/tips/strategies for those motivated to visit in the future!

First, parking at Nickerson Beach is FREE before 9am and after 5pm (it's $37 otherwise), the best hours for shooting. As long as you enter before 9am or after 5pm, you're gold; staff do not, for example, come around at 9:15am and ticket cars already inside. When you enter, you'll go around a sharp right-hand bend (red on above image) and see 3-4 entrance lanes in front of you. If it's before 9 or after 5, the ticket booths will be closed and cones will block all but one of the entrance lanes. Just drive through the open lane, continue another 200 yards, and turn left into the large parking lot I've marked on the map above. Park in the southeast corner (decent restrooms, open early and late), follow the trail over the dunes, and walk 300 yards east to the primary nesting area holding the highest number of birds. I saw birds in the secondary area from a distance but never checked it out since I was so wrapped up with the primary.

This is an old arial. The primary nesting area is

now filled with beautiful beach grass. It's perfect habitat.

Approx arc of summer sun through the day in yellow.

Second, the oystercatchers, terns, and skimmers nest and hatch/fledge young at different times. The oystercatchers breed May into June, the terns June into July, and the skimmers July into August. These are the loose windows, and there is leeway for each species. During my visit (August 5-8), for example, there wasn't an oystercatcher chick in sight; a few terns were still feeding young, and the skimmers were in full swing. So, you need to pick your species if you want to focus on chicks.

Black Skimmer - Rynchops niger 

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark 

1/3200 at f/7.1, ISO 640

Third, the lighting can be a bit tricky as the beach runs east-west. It is important to arrive early (more on that in the next section), and shooting is mostly restricted to the eastern and western ends of the roped-off nesting areas when it's sunny. The sun does swing to the south of the colony mid-morning, but it's too steep to use by the time it does. Overcast offers a bit more positional and temporal flexibility, but you'll lose color and contrast and your auto-focus might hunt a bit more when the birds are against the dunes (if you're seeking flight shots). The sun illuminates the surf beautifully at the beginning and end of each day, and the best results are obtained from getting onto your belly and shooting parallel to the beach as birds chase the waves in and out.

Black Skimmer (with Menhaden) - Rynchops niger 

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX Mark 

1/2500 at f/4, ISO 2000

Fourth, go early and/or stay late. The sun rises between 5am and 6am and sets between 8pm and 9pm during the summer months, and the best shooting will be 2 to 2.5 hours after or before those events, respectively. If it's sunny, the rest of the day will be plagued by steep lighting, ugly shadows, and washed out colors. There are always fewer general beachgoers in the morning, so it's best to drag yourself out of bed and use those earliest hours. I arrived at 6am, shot from 6:30am to 9:00am, birded elsewhere until 5pm, and returned to shoot until sundown. Ssunrise/set times will vary over the summer, so be sure to research the times ahead of your visit.

Peregrine Falcon (eating tern fledgling) - Falco peregrinus

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS 1DX Mark 

1/1000 at f/5.6, ISO 1600

Fifth, Nickerson is NOT a good place to shoot skimmers skimming. You may get an occasional pass along the front beach, but they mostly feed on the bay behind the barrier island. There is no access to that area as far as I could tell. You'll see the feeding birds returning over the dunes and along the beach, and you'll be able to capture the sort of flight+prey shots I've shown here once you identify the feeding lanes and understand the light angles. As always, look to keep you shutter at 1/2500 (and preferably 1/3200 or 1/4000) for flight work.

Sunset Sanderlings

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX Mark II

1/5000 at f/4, ISO 400

Lastly, there are a lot of good birding spots around Nickerson. I would particularly recommend the compact Oceanside Marine Nature Study Center (eBird hotspot, but closed Sundays and Mondays) north across the bay and the expansive Jones Beach (main eBird hotspot) to the east. Lido Beach Passive Nature Area (eBird hotspot) is virtually across the street from Nickerson and worth a quick stop if you have time to kill. Down the road, Point Lookout (eBird hotspot) can hold interesting waterfowl in winter. Birding on Long Island is generally slowest in summer, but I still found enough birds to hold my attention during my August visit.

OK, that's it for this installment. Not sure what's up next, but I'll think of something...

Post #163 - I found some banded birds.....

I've written about banded birds previously (Post #118, September 28, 2017), but I was fortunate to find two tagged shorebirds on Long Island (NY) last week, a coincidence I will use as fodder for another entry on the topic. Before I jump into those examples, I want to quickly rewind to March of last year (2018). I was photographing at the Foster City shell bar when a flock of ~150 Marbled Godwits landed at water's edge. Scanning the group, I found a bird sporting a small leg flag. I snapped a few record shots of the subject and reported it to this website when I returned home that evening. It was an easy process, and three days later I received a certificate of appreciation for my report.

Marbled Godwit 4Y

The certificate indicates Godwit 4Y was at least a year old when he was banded in Bristol Bay, Alaska, his likely breeding ground, in June of 2008. While it's pure conjecture without sightings/data from the intervening years, it's fun to think he might have made the journey between Alaska and California 20 times in the decade since he was banded. More advanced GPS devices now permit researchers to track birds in real time, but there will always be something wondrous in imagining what a leg-banded bird does in-between sightings.

OK, let's return to this past week on Long Island. I was photographing American Oystercatchers at Nickerson Beach in Nassau County when this banded Sanderling wandered straight into my viewfinder. He's shown investigating a san flea shell an oystercatcher discarded 10 seconds prior.

Post-breeding Sanderling KCP on Long Island

The accompanying certificate reveals the bird banded in Cape May, New Jersey in May of 2016. While the bird probably nests in the Arctic and migrates to/through the mid-Atlantic each fall/winter/spring, additional sightings are necessary to piece together its individual history. The certificate does not indicate if mine is the first sighting of this bird, but it would be really interesting to know that and the locations/dates of previous reports, if they exist. This bird seems to frequent a heavily-birded stretch of the eastern seaboard, so it's very possible someone reported him before I did. I doubt that information is publicly accessible, but someone might know something I don't.

Certificate for banded Sanderling (Banderling) KCP

My other find, a Ruddy Turnstone, came from Jones Beach, just across the inlet from Nickerson. I was scanning a salt marsh from a fishing pier when this guy came walking down the railing in search of bait scraps. I was in birding mode and without my camera my that mid-morning point (light was too harsh), so I jogged the 200 yards back to the car, grabbed my rig, and returned to document my find. He'd dropped onto the pier deck in my absence, so I laid down on the wood planks to get a clear shot of his flag.

Ruddy Turnstone 812 at Jones Beach

Like the Sanderling, the turnstone was also banded in the mid-Atlantic, specifically in Delaware in 2017. We have no clue of his life history, but I can't help but wonder if he migrates through Reed's Beach on the Delaware Bay each year. Tens of thousands of shorebirds stop there to feed on horseshoe crab eggs, so it seems totally possible he could be among them. Who knows - maybe someone has reported him from there in the past?!?!

Speculation aside, finding banded birds - and specifically highly migratory examples - is a rare and satisfying occurrence, one on par with finding a rarity as far as I'm concerned. GPS tags will eventually render leg bands a technology of the past, but I'll keep looking for banded birds until then. It's a good feeling to know my casual birding might help some underpaid and overworked researcher.

If anyone cares, here is my small collection of banded birds and certificates.

That's it for now. I have some really cool photos from Long Island, so please stay tuned for those in a future post. Here's a preview showing a Ruddy Turnstone in much nicer early morning light. You gotta get low if you want your shorebird images to have impact!

Ruddy Turnstone - Arenaria interpres

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX2

1/4000 at f/5.6, ISO 640