While birding Sandy Pt on Saturday afternoon, a juvenile Western Willet was present among five or so juvenile Eastern Willets (the local adult Easterns seem to have departed). I was able to grab a few decent images of both subspecies. Separation of Western ( inornatus ) from Eastern ( semipalmatus ) Willet is something that is being attempted more and more lately, and it is very doable especially when both subspecies are present side-by-side. Someday these two subspecies may be split into full species, so it would be outstanding to get a head start on identifying every Willet we see. Western Willet: - longer-legged, larger size, and more lanky overall - longer, thinner bill (especially the tip) - paler than Eastern; juveniles appear grayish - less contrast between scapulars and wing coverts than Eastern (does not apply to adults) Note the long legs, size much larger than the adjacent Greater Yellowlegs, bill shape, grayish coloration, and the degree of contrast between the scaps and co...
While active migration has always been my favorite bird behavior to observe, my interest in the phenomenon called “morning flight” of nocturnal migrants had been minimal due to the unfortunate reality that I lived well over an hour’s drive from the nearest known reliable observation site, Bluff Point State Park in Groton, CT. In autumn 2020, thanks to improved public access to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, CT, I began to explore the northern tip of Willard’s Island as a morning flight viewpoint and was pleased to find that under the right conditions a reliable flight could be observed there. The volume of birds passing through is not large (a small fraction of what passes through Bluff Point), but the flight line is consistent and can be observed under good lighting conditions. Between autumns 2020-22 I visited the site 20 times in total and recorded 27 warbler species in morning flight. All but a few of these have been photographed, often poorly! I immediately found mysel...
Before you read any further, I recommend that you have your favorite headache remedy handy, because you might need it. For some background reading on this problem, check out David Sibley's blog post about a confusing flock of white-cheeked geese he encountered in Massachusetts around this time last year . Also, there was recently a "problem goose" found by Frank Mantlik in Stratford. View my post and Frank's really nice photos . I suggested the bird might represent a "Lesser" Canada Goose or hybrid rather than a Cackling Goose. After getting a few more opinions on it, there actually seems to be a bit of a consensus...that it is not really identifiable and may represent a hybrid Canada x Cackling Goose, as it does not fit neatly into any one particular Canada or Cackling form (as far as we know now, anyway) and shows features of both species. And more background...here are some examples from past years of "Richardson's" Cackling Geese ( B...
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