With thanks to input from Ron Pittaway and Kevin McLaughlin who have examined my blurry photos, it appears safe to re-post this bird as a Long-billed Dowitcher.
I also received this amusing comment from Anthony Glenesk: "The long and short of it? Too tough to call. Unless it calls of course. Then you can rest on your lorals." ________________________________ From: Jarmo Jalava <jjal...@yahoo.com> To: Ontbirds reporting <birdalert@ontbirds.ca> Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 2:39 PM Subject: CORRECTION re: Dowitcher - West Perth Wetlands I've had a closer look at some poor iPhone photos I took of the dowitcher at West Perth and compared them to various sources. The loral angle just doesn't look right for a Long-billed. I'm guessing that the bird is in fact a long-billed Short-billed Dowitcher in basic plumage. Third-rate photos available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100573532@N04/sets/72157635477950991/ Comments welcome -- e-mail privately to jjalava AT yahoo.com ________________________________ From: Jarmo Jalava <jjal...@yahoo.com> To: Ontbirds reporting <birdalert@ontbirds.ca> Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 11:31 AM Subject: Long-billed Dowitcher - West Perth Wetlands This morning at West Perth Wetlands (Mitchell Sewage Lagoons) Jerry Guenther and I observed a long-billed, long-legged dowitcher in the fenced cell. The bird's overall dull grey coloration, dark grey tertials (very narrowly fringed with buff), grey greater coverts, grey non-contrasting crown, all suggest a juvenal Long-billed Dowitcher. The bird also appeared to have an acute loral angle, relatively straight bill and shallow forehead. This bird was present yesterday afternoon, but I was unable to stay long enough to study it well so I returned this morning to find it still there. Conditions are excellent for shorebirds at West Perth at the moment, with good diversity and numbers of birds. Directions: From the traffic lights on Hwy 8 at the eastern end of Mitchell, take Wellington Street south to its dead end at the parking lot of the well-marked West Perth Wetlands. _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
