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Needles in the Haystack: How Many Species Do You See?
One of the toughest challenges in birding is to pick out the bird or birds that aren't like all the others in a large tightly-bunched flock. The photo below, taken on 26 April 2006, offers an excellent opportunity to practice this skill. It is also a good primer for the Spring shorebird migration, which will peak across North America in the next 3-4 weeks. We invite you to take a close look at this image and send us a comment telling us how many different species you find. Please include the names of the other species you see in this image.
We'll get you started by pointing out that most of the birds in the original photo (bottom) are Marbled Godwits. All the non-godwits are in the bottom half of the original photo, so we cropped that section (top picture). One down...good luck finding the rest.
This group of shorebirds was photographed at Bodega Bay, California on 26 April 2006. I cropped this image from the larger one seen below in an effort to reduce the distraction of all the Marbled Godwits in the background. (Photo taken by Gary Palmer).
I think I see black turnstone, possibly ruddy turnstone and willets
Black turnstone, ruddy turnstone, surfbird, willet, and marbled godwit
I don’t see a Surfbird, but in addtion to the others, I do see a Dunlin and a Dowitcher or two.
I see a few Willets, a Black Stoneflip, several dowitchers which probably are Short-billed, and a Ruddy Stoneflip (facing away and to the right, at ten-o’-clock from the bottom right corner. Also, for the Dow-challenged, one of those is, in turn, at two-o’-clock from the Ruddy Turnstone). If there is a Dunlin I cannot discern it. May be monitor-related (as is the Komodo Dragon…)
Suggested collective term for Marbled Godwits: a ruckus.
The needles:
Willet – bunch up front
Long-billed Curlew — 2 birds in front left with no primary projection and dark bits on the crown
Black Turnstone – 1 on left
Ruddy Turnstone – at least 1 on right
Dunlin – 1-2, possibly more tucked in there somewhere
dowitchers — Short-billed (1 or 2, including one tucked at front edge) and (???) Long-billed
There’s also a bird up front, to the left of the tucked SBDO, that I, at first, thought was a Western Sandpiper, though I’m not positive now — it might be another Dunlin.
So, what else did I miss?