I was one of the afternoon crowd today that got a look through light fog. I
did not see it next to golden plovers, but it seemed a richer brown. One
view showed darker above the faint white breast line, another no difference
above vs. below.

I was a little slow catching up to some of the others because I hadn't seen
all three species of scoters together (well, 21 years ago I did) as I did on
the way out today. I also had single fulva and dominica Golden Plovers at
the high tide zone on the bay side, feeding side by side. The differences
were striking, and I don't think I will mistake the two again. The back
color, bill size, height, white above the eye, and especially the wing
length were distinctly different in the two birds that I was looking at.
The dominica wings crossed behind the tail, while the fulva wing tips barely
reached the tail.

Good luck to you hundreds looking tomorrow and Sunday. The rain may hold
off until the evening.

Randy Hill
Othello WA
hill at cbnn.net

----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Hobbs <Hummer at isomedia.com>
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, October 22, 1999 8:47 PM
Subject: Eurasian Dotterel


> I lucked into getting the best view of the Dotterel of anyone today, since
I
> had hoofed it out to the end of the spit, and was coming back when the
bird was
> spotted. Almost everyone was on the other side of the water from the
bird.
> Only myself and one other birder were on the "right" side of the tide
channel.
>
> I'll have to admit that my first impression of the bird through the scope
was
> "That's it???" Shorebirds are subtle. The more I looked, however, the
more I
> loved seeing this bird.
>
> Here are some observations. First, the yellowish legs really stand out --
if
> you are scanning a flock of mixed plovers, the legsmay be the best feature
to
> zero in on. Second, it is significantly smaller than a Black-bellied
Plover.
> Third, while both Golden-plovers and the Dotterel are brown-tan, the
Dotterel
> has a distinct peachiness to its coloration. This is especially true on
the
> flank wash and on the scapular feather edges. The white breast band was
barely
> visible, though sometimes it seemed to pop out at you.
>
> Also notable is the cute face, with the notably dainty short bill. From
the
> back, the white supercillium is very obvious as it appears in the NGS
guide.
> However from the side it often seemed to give a different look. The
auricular
> spot would sometimes appear to curve up towards the back.
>
> Also, the Dotterel was very nervous between 10:15 and 10:30, when I was
> watching. While the Black-bellied Plovers were calmly resting, the
Dotterel
> was jumpy, backing away from a Pectoral Sandpiper, jabbing at a Dunlin,
turning
> around several times, and flattening itself to the ground once. Geez - it
> should just relax and enjoy the Washington State hospitality.
>
> For those wondering where the bird disappeared to, let me just say that as
the
> fog rolled in and Ruth Sullivan approached the bird for photos, it may
have
> seemed that she flushed the birds far away. In reality, they moved only
50
> yards away from the crowd. When I left, the Dotterel was still with the
BBPL
> and Dunlin, just a little further out the spit than when first seen. But
I
> could barely see them in the thick fog.
>
> All in all, a VERY satisfying bird.
>
> Afterwards, I struck out AGAIN looking for the Hudsonian Godwit. There
were
> hundreds of Marbled Godwits, at least 86 Brown Pelican, hundreds of
Heerman's
> Gulls, and about 10 Caspian Terns at Tokeland, however.
>
> == Michael Hobbs
> == Kirkland WA
> == hummer at isomedia.com