Two piper-types I took this week Forsythe in New Jersey near Atlantic City. I am now seeing birds in plumage transition... wonder if this is throwing me off or just lack of talent/experience/eye sight!!!
These darn things look like a bunch of different birds all at once. Best guess from a birder friend of mine is Semipalmated Sandpiper and a Least Sandpiper. Both are pretty small birds and if I classify pipers as s/m/l, these are definitely in the small group. They were intermixed in a flock on a muck flat and they were smaller than a Forsters Tern that stood among them.
Hi Bruce- Welcome to BPN! Peeps, as the small sandpipers are called, are not easy to ID. Your first image is of a nice Least Sandpiper- note the yellow tinge to the legs. The next one looks like a Semi to me but I would like to hear other's opinions. Here's a Semi for comparison with "yours".
Bruce's birds are a Least and a Semi. The Least is showing broad fresh feather edges with a lot of orange tones, indicating it is a juvenile bird. The Semipalmated is a molting adult. If you look at the small feathers right near the wings, you can see how worn they are. They are old feathers, molted in last fall.
John's bird is also a Semipalmated, but his is a juvenile. Look at the broad pale feather edges. Most (all?) adult Semipalmateds at this time of year haven't completed their molts so you see a mix of retained old feathers and nice fresh ones. But even the fresh feathers don't have the big broad edging that you see in the juvenile.
ID Two Pipers
Reply With Quote
