Subject: Re: Pipit types
Date: Sep 22 14:27:58 1994
From: Eugene Hunn - hunn at u.washington.edu


Hi,

Re pink-legged American Pipits. I saw one at West Point, Discovery Park,
Seattle last winter but before I could get too excited I was informed
that that was not so unusual and to consult the detailed accounts of
pipit plumages in American Birds past, which I did. There are a number
of plumage characters of japonicus that the bird I saw clearly lacked
(though I forget now which). So there's more to it than leg color.

Gene Hunn (hunn at u.washington.edu)

On Tue, 20 Sep 1994, Dennis Paulson wrote:

> >Harry Nehls and I were standing on the Shorebird flats at the South Jetty of
> >the Columbia River watching pipits fly over (we had had a report of
> >Red-throated
> >a few days earlier) and got to talking about pink-legged American Pipits.
> >Can they be safely identified as _japonicus_ type or could they be juveniles
> >of expected American types? How often do folks see _japonicus_?
> >I know I see pink-legged birds with far more frequency than "rare in Western
> >Alaska" might suggest.
> >
> >
> >--
> >******************************** Nothing at the top, but a bucket and a mop
> >* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * and an illustrated book about birds
> >* mpatters at ednet1.osl.or.gov * see a lot up there, but don't be scared.
> >******************************** Who needs action when you got words? KC
>
> You have hit upon something, Mike. I don't remember where I saw recently
> that people were seeing 'japonicus' pipits on the west coast, but at the
> time I wondered whether we were in for a spate of vagrant *subspecies*
> sight reports (especially of subspecies that might be elevated to species
> rank). I figured japonicus Am. Pipits were about as unlikely as
> Red-throated (or more so?), so how could there all of a sudden be a bunch
> of them? Well, I just looked at a tray of Am. Pipits from the west, and,
> while most of the skins had black legs (including our 2 recent specimens),
> some had very reddish/pink legs, from both spring and fall. I then looked
> in 6 books with Am. pipit photos, and the legs looked dark brown to black
> in all but one, in which they looked brownish-red. I don't think that black
> legs would dry to red in a study skin, but perhaps brown legs might.
>
> An interesting observation and one that needs much more field checking,
> obviously. I just spent a weekend at Leadbetter Point, hoping to see a lot
> of pipits, and there were virtually none.
>
> Speaking of Leadbetter, and to respond briefly to David Buckley's query (I
> thought someone else would do so by now), the WOS meeting went well, and I
> think everyone had a good time. My birding highlights included 4 Elegant
> Terns at the North Jetty (the only ones in WA this year, apparently), 13
> Great Egrets in a bunch on the bay side of Leadbetter, 2 Peregrines driving
> pintails into the water at the Willapa Refuge, 2 not fully fledged Snowy
> Plovers way out on Leadbetter, and a runt Baird's Sandpiper (feeding with
> Westerns and exactly the same size--very unusual!!!) in the same area. It
> was good to see old friends and make new ones.
>
> I was hoping to contact you and try to pick up that Brewer's Sparrow, Mike,
> but I was with others and we just didn't have the time. Hope it's not
> taking up valuable ice cream space.
>
> Dennis Paulson
>
>
>