Tag: Greater Yellow Legs

PIPING PLOVER WEEKLY UPDATE -SIX PLOVERS AND THREE WILLETS! Plus Semi-palmated Plovers, Yellow Legs, a Least Sandpiper, and More Black-bellied Plovers

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Six Piping Plovers (Saturday morning 5/18/19)

Five Semi-palmated Plovers (Monday morning 5/20/19)

Four Piping Plovers (Sunday night, Monday morning 5/19/19)

Three Willets (Saturday morning 5/18/19)

Two Black-bellied Plovers (Monday morning 5/20/19)

Two Yellow Legs (Tuesday morning 5/13/19)

One Least Sandpiper (Monday morning 5/20/19)

Sometime during Friday night, three additional Piping Plovers and three Willets arrived to Good Harbor Beach.

The three new PiPls made for a total of six spotted at sunrise on Saturday morning–our mated pair, the Bachelor, two new boys and a new girl. While Mama was on the nest, five foraged at the tidal flats. There were several territorial skirmishes before two flew off. I wasn’t able to wait to see if they returned.

Winsome Willets

Saturday morning also found three Willets foraging at the tidal flats. Although I didn’t see them later in the day, I did hear their wonderfully distinct calls. I wonder if they will stay. Willets breed in our area and I am fairly certain there was a nesting pair at the Good Harbor Beach salt marsh last summer, the first time I have ever seen Willets regularly there.

New girl on the scene

New boy on the scene

Sunday late afternoon/early evening four PiPls were at Good Harbor Beach. One on the nest, and three were foraging at the flats. More smack downs between the boys and I didn’t see the pretty female.

Papa Plover defending his nesting territory

Early Monday, and the four PiPls are still here, plus five Semi-palmated Plovers, one Least Sanderling, and two Black-bellied Plovers. The two Black-bellied Plovers were not the same as the two we saw last week. They  were frightened off by a flock of seagulls in flight and didn’t stay long. The Least Sandpiper, Black-bellied Plover, and Semi-palmated Plover breed in the tundra across extreme northern North America. Yellow Legs breed in the boreal forests, wetlands, and meadows of the far north. All four species are finding lots to eat at their Good Harbor Beach stopover.

Yellow Legs

Black-bellied Plover

Least Sandpiper

Semi-palmated Plover

Good eating at Good Harbor

May’s Full Flower Moon brought several very high tides, but our PiPl nest is tucked up safely near the dune edge. In the photo you can see how close the seaweed came to the nest.

High tides and beautiful sunrise Saturday morning

WINSOME WILLETS

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

A Plain Jane, resting on a tuft of grass at the marsh edge, backlit, I at first thought she was a stone. A slight turn of the head and upon closer look, not a stone but a very large shorebird, with feathers worn in a subdued arrangement of brown and white—still, nothing special. Then she began to unfold her long elegant wings. Boldly barred in chocolate brown, this Plain Jane was swiftly transformed to Beauty Queen.

Willets are one of the few shorebirds that nest not in the Arctic tundra, but prairie and salt marshes of America and Canada. For over one hundred years Willets were hunted to non-existence in Massachusetts. Biologists have a name for this tragic occurrence, when a species is not extinct, but is no longer present in an area, and the term is extirpated. Because of the Migratory Bird Act of 1918, the Willet population is increasing and the Massachusetts coastline has once again become a safe home for these beautiful members of the sandpiper family.

Belonging to the same genus as yellowlegs, they do look similar to Greater Yellowlegs, but are comparatively larger, their beaks are thicker, and their legs are not yellow but gray. Look for Willets on beaches, marshes, mudflats, and rocky coasts. They forage on crabs and other small crustaceans, worms, mollusks, fish, and grass. The call of the Willet is unmistakable, piercing and urgent and their name comes from the ringing “pill-will-willet.”

MARSH SUNRISE

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Yellow Legs feeding at daybreak in the marsh.

I am not sure if this is a Greater or Lesser Yellow Legs. It was too dark to make an id before flying off to join several more feeding at low tide in the marsh.

Look for both Greater and Lesser Yellow Legs along the shoreline–they are seen in Massachusetts during spring and fall migrations. Yellow Legs are traveling to bogs and marshes of the boreal forest region of Canada and Alaska where they breed and nest for the summer.

WINGED CREATURE NEWS AND QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY READERS

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

We love hearing from our readers. Please feel free to ask questions about, and to share your photos of, Cape Ann’s beautiful wild creatures. GMG FOB Susan Larosa shared the extraordinary news that a Vermillion Flycatcher was spotted in Maine, the first recorded sighting EVER. Although they are known to wander, these birds are native to the southwestern region of the United States, and southward. Click on this link to continue reading the full story: The National Audubon Society says a web camera has captured the first confirmed sighting in Maine of a colorful species of bird typically seen in the southwestern part of the country.

Range map of the Vermillion Flycatcher–no where near New England!

Facebook Friend Linda shared the next two photos, wondering what bird? Linda, I think the photos are of the Greater Yellow Legs. Where was the photo taken (general area, you don’t have to be super specific) and approximately how big do you think it was, compared to other birds, for example. Greater and Lesser Yellow Legs are often confused. I have seen far more Lesser than Greater Yellow Legs on Cape Ann but the bill seems extra long, which would indicate a Greater Yellow Legs.

Range Map of Greater Yellow Legs showing it is a passing migrant through our region