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Posted by Brennan Mulrooney on 12:26:32 12/26/06
In Reply to: Christmas at ENP - American Golden Plover? posted by Trey Mitchell
Awesome photos, I especially liked the Faithful Beauty (I've only seen one down here). Your dowitchers, however, appear to be Short-billed Dowitchers. The best evidence visible in your photos is the seagrass on the shoreline next to them. In otherwords, they appear to be in saltwater habitat which in my experience in this area (ENP) means that, almost beyond a shadow of a doubt, they are going to be Short-billeds. As far as field marks go, the necks seem to be pale and spotty, the flanks are relatively sparsely marked, the backs are pretty flat, and the bills are rather short (I think perhaps out of the range of a LBDO). In five winters of almost daily explorations of Florida Bay, I've run into Long-billed Dowitcher once (two calling birds at Calusa Key).
Brennan Mulrooney
Key Largo, FL
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