Rare Waders Grand Slam, Eastern Rd Trail, Scarborough Marsh, 6/28: LIEG, hybrid heron, WFIB, apparent WFIBxGLIB
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Derek Lovitch
Jun 28, 2019, 9:42:52 AM6/28/19
to Maine-birds
Hi all,
In a rare June guiding-free visit to Scarborough Marsh this am, I had planned to spend a few hours studying and enjoying Saltmarsh and Nelson’s Sparrows but instead was mostly distracted by wading birds.
1 LITTLE EGRET - dark lores, bill length, overall structural differences, etc, readily apparent, but head plumes were not; may have already been dropped.
1 PATCHES, JR: the hybrid Tricolored Heron x small white egret(s) of varying degrees.
1 WHITE-FACED IBIS
- classic, continuing adult although facial skin beginning to fade since the last time I saw it.
1 apparent WHITE-FACED IBIS X GLOSSY IBIS HYBRID:
- briefly with WFIB for good comparison. Phone-scoped photos of questionable value.
- narrow white border to mostly purplish facial skin, a little pink visible at base of bill.
- eye appeared dark reddish or reddish-brown
- pale grayish legs, somewhat fleshy in tone, with full pink “knees.”
- did not see open wings or tail to confirm age to rule out 2nd summer WFIB completely, but all signs are of a “classic” Plegadis hybrid, which seems like it should be more regular around here by now, yet there are only a handful of sightings over the years here, in part due to ID challenges especially outside of high breeding.
1 Greater Yellowlegs - likely oversummering individual that has been present all month.
And yes, lots of sparrows, too.
-Derek
Sent from my iPhone
In a rare June guiding-free visit to Scarborough Marsh this am, I had planned to spend a few hours studying and enjoying Saltmarsh and Nelson’s Sparrows but instead was mostly distracted by wading birds.
1 LITTLE EGRET - dark lores, bill length, overall structural differences, etc, readily apparent, but head plumes were not; may have already been dropped.
1 PATCHES, JR: the hybrid Tricolored Heron x small white egret(s) of varying degrees.
1 WHITE-FACED IBIS
- classic, continuing adult although facial skin beginning to fade since the last time I saw it.
1 apparent WHITE-FACED IBIS X GLOSSY IBIS HYBRID:
- briefly with WFIB for good comparison. Phone-scoped photos of questionable value.
- narrow white border to mostly purplish facial skin, a little pink visible at base of bill.
- eye appeared dark reddish or reddish-brown
- pale grayish legs, somewhat fleshy in tone, with full pink “knees.”
- did not see open wings or tail to confirm age to rule out 2nd summer WFIB completely, but all signs are of a “classic” Plegadis hybrid, which seems like it should be more regular around here by now, yet there are only a handful of sightings over the years here, in part due to ID challenges especially outside of high breeding.
1 Greater Yellowlegs - likely oversummering individual that has been present all month.
And yes, lots of sparrows, too.
-Derek
Sent from my iPhone
Andrew Block
Jun 29, 2019, 11:50:14 AM6/29/19
to Maine birds
Hi Derek,
Where were these birds in the marsh? I'm heading up on the 9th of July to look for them.
Thanks,
Andrew
Yonkers, NY
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