Natural
History
Notes
on the Birds
Charadriformes I
Plovers, Shorebirds,
Phalaropes
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About the
categories
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Name
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Common name
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Food
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The main food category.
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Feeding Techniques
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How it acquires its food.
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Habitat
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What kind of area does the bird
live?
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Plumage
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Is there similarity between the male
and the female, between winter and spring, young and adult,
or are there variations in the plumage amongst the species.
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Distribution
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Approximately where it is found in the
United States.
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Breeding
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Unique aspects on how the species
breeds.
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About the Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Special notes on the status or natural
history of this bird.
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Notes from A. C.
Bent
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Selections from the Life Histories of
North American Birds, edited by
A. C. Bent.
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Name
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Food
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Mollusks,
crustaceans,
insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Runs along the shoreline,stops and
picks at prey on the surface.
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Habitat
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Wetlands
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
seasonal plumage very
different
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Distribution
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Found along both coasts
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Food: In the interior they fed, around
the shores of the larger lakes and on open flats, on various
forms of aquatic life. They also resort to some extent to
meadows and upland pastures, where the grass is short, and
to plowed fields; here they do some good by devouring
grasshoppers, locusts, cutworms, grubs, beetles, and
earthworms. They also eat some seeds and berries.
Mr.
Forbush (1912) says that Prof.
Samuel Aughey found the stomachs of two of these birds
"crammed with the destructive Rocky Mountain
locust."
Grinnell,
Bryant, and Storer (1918) mentions a bird taken in
California which had in its stomach "14 small snails, 1
small bivale mollusk, and parts of 2 or more small crabs." I
once watched a bird in Florida, which fed for some time on
the broken remains of a dead crab.
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Name
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Food
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Mollusks,
crustaceans,
insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Runs along the shoreline,stops and
picks at prey on the surface.
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Habitat
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Agricultural areas, wetlands; spends
the winter in Hawaii
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
, seasonal plumages very
different
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Distribution
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Pacific coast
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Edward
H. Forbush (1912) tells of two
men who killed plover enough to fill a tip car two-thirds
full in one day, during a big storm on Nantucket in the
forties. Again he speaks of a great flight which occurred
there on August 29, 1863, "when golden plover and Eskimo
curlew landed on the island in such numbers as to almost
darken the sun. Between seven and eight thousand of these
birds were killed on the island and on Tuckernuck." He says
that from 1860 on the species began to decrease, due to the
demand created by the failing supply of passenger pigeons,
and that in 1890 alone two Boston firms received from the
West 40 barrels closely packed with curlew and plover, with
25 dozen curlew and 60 dozen plover to the
barrel.
By the end of the last century this
species had about reached its lowest ebb; it had become
scarce where it once abounded; no more big flights occurred;
and in many places it was rarely seen. But protective
measures came in time to save it from extermination; the
stopping of the sale of game and the removal of this species
from the game-bird list were badly needed. Since the last
move was made the species has shown some signs of recovery.
Edwin Beaupre (1917) says that "after an absence of almost
15 years, the golden plover has apparently resumed its
migratory visits to eastern Ontario." Prof. William Rowan
(1923) says:
This year has been an exceptional
golden-plover year. At the place referred to above,
somewhere over a thousand birds were seen on the 20th of May
alone, in moving flocks varying in number from 30
individuals to several hundreds. This was evidently not
unique; for about the same time I got a report from quite
another part of the Province that this species was unusually
abundant, while from yet another quarter I got a very good
description of the bird in a letter with a request that I
name it for the inquirer, a careful bird observer. Her
comment was that she had never seen the species before, but
that it was, at the time of writing, present on the plowed
fields in enormous numbers.
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Name
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Food
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Mollusks,
crustaceans,
insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Runs along the shoreline,stops and
picks at prey on the surface.
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Habitat
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Wetlands
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
, slight variation in seasonal
plumages
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Distribution
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Throughout the United
States
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Field marks: The semipalmated plover
is easily distinguished in the field from the killdeer by
its smaller size, its single neck ring, and by the absence
of the rufous color on the rump. Its darker colors
distinguish it from the piping plover. From the sandpipers,
even at a distance on the sand, it is distinguished most
readily by its plover behavior, as already described. In
flying they show a faint white line on the wings which
contrasts with the general brown of the upper parts. The
neck ring is noticeable both in the flying and walking bird,
and the orange yellow of the tarsi and base of the bill can
be made out with glasses. In the young, which arrive on the
Massachusetts coast about a month behind their elders in the
autumn migration, the ring is gray instead of glossy black,
and the tarsi are pale yellow. It may be distinguished from
the Wilson's plover by the fact that that bird has a much
longer bill, wholly black.
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Name
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Food
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Mollusks,
crustaceans,
insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Runs along the ground,stops and picks
at prey on the surface.
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Habitat
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Found primarily on beaches.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
, non-breeding plumage more
drab than breeding plumage
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Distribution
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Primarily along the west coast and
southeast coast
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Breeding
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Nests in scrape
on the beach. Young are precocial.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Food: Snowy plover feed mainly on the
sandy beaches, foraging on the wet sand and at the surf
line, where they are expert at dodging the incoming waves
and very lively, running up and down the beach as the waves
advance or recede. Here they often forage in compact
bunches, picking up small crustaceans,
marine worms, or other minute marine organisms. Inland they
feed along the muddy or alkaline shores of ponds or lakes,
on various insects,
such as beetles or flies. Dr. A. K. Fisher (1893)
says:
This handsome little plover was
observed by the writer on the shores of Owens Lake, near
Keeler, May 30 to June 4, where it was common in small
flocks of 5 or 10 on the alkaline flats which border the
lake. Like most other birds in the vicinity, it fed
extensively, if not exclusively, on a species of small fly
(Ephydra
hians Say), which was found in
immense masses near the edge of the lake. Many of these
swarms of flies were four or five layers deep and covered an
area of 15 or 20 square feet. Some idea can be formed of the
inexhaustible supply of food which this insect furnishes for
birds when it is known that colonies of equal size occurred
at close intervals in suitable localities all around the
lake, which has a shore line of between 40 and 50
miles.
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Name
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Food
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Mollusks,
crustaceans,
insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Runs along the ground, stops and picks
at prey on the surface.
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Habitat
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Upland dry fields
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Sparse distribution
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Nesting: W. C. Bradbury (1918) has
given us a very good acccount of the nesting habits of the
mountain plover in Colorado. Of the nesting site and nest he
says:
The ground is an open, rolling
prairie, above the line of irrigation, and is devoted to
cattle range. It is several miles from natural surface water
and streams, and is covered with short-cropped buffalo or
gramma grass, 2 or 3 inches high, with frequent bunches of
dwarfed prickly pear, and an occasional cluster of stunted
shrub or weed, rarely more than a foot in height. With the
six sets secured, in no instance had the parent bird taken
advantage of the slight protection offered from sight or the
elements by the nearby cactus, shrubs or uneven spots of
ground. In each case, she had avoided such shelter, locating
in the open, generally between the small grass hummocks and
not on or in them; there was no evidence of the parent birds
having given more thought to nest preparation or
concealment, than does any other plover. In two of the sets
the eggs were all individually embedded in the baked earth
to a depth of one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch, evidently
having settled when the surface of the ground was reduced to
soft mud by rain-water collecting in the slight depressions.
As the ground dried up the eggs were fixed in a perfect
mould or matrix, from which they could not roll. In fact
they could hardly be disturbed at all by the sitting birds.
The only nesting material was a small quantity of fine, dry
rootlets and "crowns" of gramma
grass, the eggs in some
instances being slightly embedded in this lining. As it is
also present in all other depressions on the prairie it is
highly probable that here as elsewhere it was deposited
about the eggs by the wind and not through the agency of the
birds themselves.The protective coloration of the nest and
eggs, as well as of the rear view of the birds themselves,
even when in motion, is unsurpassed. In no instance, except
one hereinafter noted, was the bird seen to leave the nest,
nor was any nest found except in the immediate vicinity of
moving birds.
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Name
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Food
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Mollusks,
crustaceans,
insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Runs along the ground,stops and picks
at prey on the surface.
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Habitat
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Found in many different habitats.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Throughout the United
States
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Scientific name, vociferous, refers to
its habit of spreading alarm often.
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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It may be said of the killdeer that it
is probably the most widely distributed and best known of
all our shore birds. Unlike most of the group, it is not
confined to the borders of lakes and of the sea but is found
in meadows, pastures, and dry uplands often many miles from
water. Unlike, also, the majority of our shore birds, its
sojourn here is not limited to the migration periods, for it
breeds and winters throughout a large portion of the United
States. It is not of a retiring disposition, and it often
makes its presence known by loud calls and cries, to which
it owes both its common and scientific names: killdeer and
vociferus. Its strikingly marked and handsome plumage makes
it very conspicuous when it is in motion, as is nearly
always the case. In all these respects it resembles the
European lapwing, a resemblance to which both Wilson and
Audubon called attention. Wilson (1832) says that "this
restless and noisy bird is known to almost every inhabitant
of the United States."
During the latter part of the last.
century and early in this persecution by shooting brought
down the numbers of the killdeer so that in certain parts of
the country where it formerly bred it became extremely rare.
Thus, Forbush
(1925) says:
The killdeer was once a common
breeding bird in New England. Early in the present century
it became so reduced in numbers that it was believed to have
been practically exterminated as a breeding species. * * *
Legislation protecting it perpetually has resulted in a
gradual increase of the species which is now nesting locally
but not uncommonly in the coastal region and river valleys
of southern New England.
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Name
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Food
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Mollucks,
crustaceans,
marine worms, bivalves
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Feeding
Techniques
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Hunts for prey items along rocks right
on the coast
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Habitat
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Rocky coasts
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Only along the Pacific
coast
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Courtship: W.
Leon Dawson (1909) writes:
Left to themselves, the birds are no
Quakers, and the antics of courtship are both noisy and
amusing. A certain duet, especially, consists of a series of
awkward bowings and bendings in which the neck is stretched
to the utmost and arched over stiffly into a pose as
grotesque as one of Cruikshank's drawings, the whole to an
accompaniment of amorous clucks and wails.
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Name
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Food
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Variety of worms, crabs,
insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Probes the sand in addition to hunting
for prey on the rocks
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Habitat
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Coastal waters
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Southeast coast
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Food: Audubon
(1840) says of the feeding habits of the
oystercatcher:
I have seen it probe the sand to the
full length of its bill, knock off limpets from the rocks on
the coast of Labrador, using its weapon sideways and
insinuating it between the rock and the shell like a chisel,
seize the bodies of gaping oysters on what are called in the
Southern States and the Floridas "raccoon oyster beds," and
at other times take up a "razor handle" or solen, and lash
it against the sands until the shell was broken and the
contents swallowed. Now and then they seem to suck the sea
urchins, driving in the mouth, and introducing their bill by
the aperture, without breaking the shell; again they are
seen wading up to their bodies from one place to another,
seizing on shrimps and other crustacen,
and even swimming for a few yards, should this be necessary
to enable them to remove from one bank to another without
flying. Small crabs, fiddlers, and sea worms are also caught
by it, the shells of which, in a broken state, I have found
in its gizzard in greater or less quantity. Frequently,
while on wet sea beaches, it pats the sand to force out the
insects;
and in one instance I saw an individual run from the water
to the dry sand with a small flounder in its bill, which it
afterwards devoured.
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Name
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Food
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Insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Feeds in small ponds
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Habitat
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Wetlands
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Scattered throughout the US
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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wabbly - wabble is a variation of the
word wobble, which refers to uneven movements
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Although I first met the black-necked
stilt in the Florida Keys in 1903, it was not until I
visited the irrigated regions of the San Joaquin Valley in
California in 1914, that I saw this curious bird living in
abundance and flourishing in most congenial surroundings. It
was a pleasant change from the cool, damp air of the coast
region to the clear, dry warmth of this highly cultivated
valley. The naturally arid plains between the distant
mountain ranges had been transformed by irrigation into
fertile fields of alfalfa and wheat, vast areas had been
flooded with water from the melting snows of the Sierras,
forming grazing lands for herds of cattle and endless
marshes, wet meadows, ponds and creeks, for various species
of water birds. As W.
Leon Dawson (1923) puts
it:
The magic touch of water following its
expected channels quickens an otherwise barren plain into a
paradise of avian activities. Ducks of six or seven species
frequent the deeper channels; coots
and gallinules
and pied-billed
grebes crowd the sedgy margins
of the ponds; herons, bitterns, ibises, and egrets, seven
species of Herodiones, all told, occupy the reedy depths of
the larger ponds or deploy over the grassy levels. Rails
creak and titter, red
wings clink, yellow-headed
blackbirds gurgle, wrangle,
and screech; while the marsh
wrens, familiar spirits of the
maze, sputter and chuckle over their quaint basketry. The
tricolored
blackbirds, also in great
silent companies recruited from a hundred acres, charge into
their nesting covert with a din of uncanny preoccupation.
Over the open ponds black
terns hover, and
Forster
terns flit with languid ease.
The killdeer
is not forgotten, nor the burrowing
owl, whose home is in the
higher knolls; but over all and above all and through all
comes the clamor of the black-necked stilt and the
American
avocet.
Of all these birds, the stilts were
the most conspicuous in the wet meadows about Los Banos,
where they were always noisy and aggressive. I have never
seen them so abundant elsewhere, though I have seen them in
similar situations in Florida and Texas, on extensive wet
meadows where shallow water fills the hollows between
myriads of little muddy islets and tufts of grass. Here they
can wade about and feed in the water or build their nests on
the hummocks above high-water mark, and here their young can
hide successfully among the grassy tufts.
Behavior: The flight of the stilt is
steady and direct, but not particularly swift; the bill is
held straight out in front and the legs are extended
backwards, giving the bird a long, slim appearance. Over
their eggs or young, stilts sometimes hover on steadily
heating wings with dangling legs. In their excitement they
sometimes climb up into the air and make startling dives.
But stilts are essentially waders; for
wading they are highly specialized, and here they show to
best advantage. At times they seem a bit wabbly on their
absurdly long and slender legs, notably when trembling with
excitement over the invasion of their breeding grounds. But
really they are expert in the use of these well-adapted
limbs, and one can not help admiring the skillful and
graceful way in which they wade about in water breast deep,
as well as on dry land, in search of their insect prey. The
legs are much bent at each step, the foot is carefully
raised and gently but firmly planted again at each long
stride. The legs are so long that when the bird is feeding
on land it is necessary to bend the legs backward to enable
the bill to reach the ground.
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Name
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Food
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Insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Moves its long beak like a scyth over
the surface of a pond or similar body of water.
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Habitat
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Wetland
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
; develops orange head during
breeding season
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Distribution
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Throughout most of the western US,
scattered areas of the east
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Behavior: Avocets are at all times
tame and unsuspicious, very solicitous and aggressive on
their breeding grounds, quiet and indifferent at other
times, showing only mild curiosity. Their demonstrations of
anxiety on their nesting grounds, particularly if they have
young, are amusing and ludicrous. Utterly regardless of
their own safety, they meet the intruder more than half way
and stay with him till he leaves. W.
Leon Dawson (1909) has
described it very graphically, as follows:
The mother bird had flushed at a
hundred yards, but seeing our position she flew toward us
and dropped into the water some 50 feet away. Here she
lifted a black wing in simulation of maimed stiffness, and
flopped and floundered away with the aid of the other one.
Seeing that the ruse failed, she ventured nearer and
repeated the experiment, lifting now one wing and now both
in token of utter helplessness. After a while the male
joined her, and we had the painful spectacle of a crippled
family, whose members were uttering most doleful cries of
distress, necessitated apparently by their numerous aches
and breaks. Once, for experiment's sake, we followed, and
the waders flopped along in manifest delight coaxing us up
on shore and making off through the sagebrush with broken
legs and useless wings. But we came back, finding it better
to let the birds make the advances. The birds were driven to
the very limit of frenzy, dancing, wing trailing, swaying,
going through last convulsions and beginning over again
without regard to logical sequence, all in an agony of
effort to divert attention from those precious eggs. As time
elapsed, however, the color of the play changed.
Finding that the appeal of cupidity
was of no avail, the birds appeared to fall back upon the
appeal to pity. Decoying was useless, that was plain; so
they stood with upraised wings, quivering and moaning, in
tenderest supplication. It was too much even for conscious
rectitude and we withdrew abashed.
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Name
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Food
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Small mollusks,
fish, crabs, aquatic insects,
marine worms
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Feeding
Techniques
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Uses its beak to hunt for prey - from
land and from water
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Habitat
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Wetlands
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Mainly in the western states, but
increasing in the east
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
swale -
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Nesting: The eastern willet is
decidedly a coastwise bird and it is seldom seen far from
the coastal marshes, beaches, and islands. Its favorite
nesting places are on sandy islands overgrown with grass,
tall and thick enough to conceal its nest, or on dry uplands
where similar conditions may be found in close proximity to
marshes or the shore. In Nova Scotia I was too late to find
nests, but Mr. Lewis (1920) writes:
I have occasionally searched for the
nests or the young of the willets, but without success until
June 5, 1920, when I found a nest with four eggs of this
species, in an open swale in an upland pasture, about a
quarter of a mile from the nearest salt marsh or salt water,
at Arcadia, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, on the western
side of the Chetogue River. The nest was near the Junction
of the River Road with Argyle Street, and was about 150
yards from each of those much-traveled highways, which were
in full view from the nest site. Several cattle occupied the
pasture at the time when the nest was found. The swale in
which the nest was placed was of considerable extent and was
of the kind preferred as a breeding place by
Wilson's
snipe; in fact, a pair of
those birds were evidently nesting there. The willet's nest
was a slight hollow in the damp ground, lined with a few
dead rushes. It was surrounded by growing rushes, cinnamon
fern, low blackberry bushes, and wild rose bushes, and was
well concealed.
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Name
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Food
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Primarily insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Uses its beak to hunt for prey - from
land and from water
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Habitat
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Wetlands
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
, non-breeding plumage is less
mottled than breeding plumage
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Distribution
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Throughout the United
States
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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The names, telltale and tattler, have
long been applied to both of the yellow-legs, and deservedly
so, for their noisy, talkative habits are their best known
traits. They are always on the alert and ever vigilant to
warn their less observant or more trusting companions by
their loud, insistent cries of alarm that some danger is
approaching. Every sportsman knows this trait and tries to
avoid arousing this alarm when other, more desirable, game
is likely to be frightened away. And many a yellow-legs has
been shot by an angry gunner as a reward for his
exasperating loquacity.
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Name
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Food
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Primarily insects
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Feeding
Techniques
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Uses its beak to hunt for prey - from
land and from water
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Habitat
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Wetlands
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
, non-breeding plumage is less
mottled than breeding plumage
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Distribution
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Throughout the United
States
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Young: Incubation
is shared by both sexes, but we have no information as to
its duration. MacFarlane found a pair of yellowlegs with
three recently hatched young "in a small watery swamp,"
where the young were able to conceal themselves in the short
grass. Mr. Street (1923) says:
Young were found for the first time on
June 4. Both male and female at this time were highly
excited, the female approaching within 10 feet of us. All
the young had left the nest and had taken refuge in the
shade of a log to escape the burning rays of the sun. No
eggshells were found in the nest or near by. As we retired
from the immediate locality the female flew down to the
ground and softly "kipped" as if to rally the scattered
young. On the succeeding day a nest was found which at 10 a.
m. contained one young and two eggs. At 12.30 p.m. all the
birds had hatched and had left the nest, being found quite a
distance away. One bird was walking, readily indicating that
the migration to the water must start within a few hours of
the time that the young are out of the eggs.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Primarily insects
(see below)
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Hunts for prey in rocky coastal
areas
|
|
Habitat
|
Rocky coastal shores
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have the same plumage.
- heavily barred during
breeding season, grayer plumage for non-breeding
plumage
|
|
Distribution
|
Pacific coast
|
|
Breeding
|
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Food: The usual feeding grounds of the
wandering tattler are the rocky shores, where it searches
for its food among the kelp covered rocks at the water's
edge, following the receding waves and nimbly dodging the
incoming breakers or making short flights to avoid the surf.
If over-taken and drenched it flies to a rock, shakes the
water from its plumage and soon resumes its feeding. B. J.
Bretherton (1896) says that on Kodiak Island:
This species seemed to habitually
frequent the sand or gravel beaches in preference to rocky
localities, and had regular feeding grounds to which they
resorted at certain stages of the tide, returning regularly
each day at the same time. Their food consists largely of
decapods together with small crabs, marine worms, and minute
mollusks.
Its food seems to be mainly
insects,
but includes small crustaceans,
minute mollusks,
marine worms, and other small marine animals. The contents
of six stomachs, reported on by Preble and McAtee (1923)
consisted of "flies (Diptera),
46.1 per cent; caddis flies 30.6 per cent; amphipods, 16 per
cent; mollusks,
3.6 per cent; and beetles 1.1 per cent."
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Insects,
mollusks
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Turns stones over to find food
underneath.
|
|
Habitat
|
Rocky shore
|
|
Plumage
|
Breeding plumage brighter than
non-breeding plumage; The
male and the female have the same plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
Both Atlantic and Pacific
coasts
|
|
Breeding
|
Winters along both coasts
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Field marks: The turnstone is a
conspicuous and well-marked bird, not likely to be mistaken
for anything else. It is a stout, short legged bird with a
short neck and a short, straight bill. In its brilliant
spring plumage the white head, black throat, red legs, and
rufous back are unique field marks. But the best field
marks, most conspicuous in the nuptial plumage, but present
in all plumages, are the five white stripes on the upper
surface, which show very plainly as the bird flies away;
these are a broad central stripe on the back, separated by a
black patch on the rump from the white area in the tail, a
narrow stripe on the outer edge of the scapulars and a band
across the wing on the secondaries and primaries.
Unfortunately for observers on the Pacific coast, the
black
turnstone has somewhat similar
white stripes, but the pattern is a little
different.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Insects,
mollusks
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Turns stones over to find food
underneath.
|
|
Habitat
|
Rocky shore
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have the same plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
Winters along Pacific coast
|
|
Breeding
|
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Young: Mr. Conover says, in his notes,
that "both male and female take care of the young." He
obtained some data which seems to show that the eggs hatch
in from 21 to 22 days. A nest was found on May 31 with four
fresh eggs; in the evening of June 21 this nest contained
three young, already dry, and one pipped egg; the next
morning the last egg had hatched. Another nest was found on
May 31 with three eggs; the next day there were four eggs;
at noon on June 22 the eggs had not hatched; but at 4 pm the
next day the nest was empty and the young had disappeared
from the vicinity.
Mr. Brandt says in his
notes:
We enjoyed the pleasure of seeing the
downy young for the first time on June 21, and were greatly
interested in them, as they had not been described or
figured. They are born from the egg 21 days after
incubation
begins, and the mottled chick, like other shore birds,
leaves its nest at once. The downy young have a remarkably
protective coloration, and, furthermore, are distinguishable
from any of their relatives.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Primarily insects
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Hunts its prey as it walks around
rocks where the waves meet the shore
|
|
Habitat
|
Rocky shore
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have the same plumage.
; non-breeding plumage less
colorful than breeding
|
|
Distribution
|
Pacific coast
|
|
Breeding
|
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
Phalangoidea - A division of
Arachnoidea, including the daddy longlegs or harvestman
(Phalangium) and many similar kinds. They have long,
slender, many-jointed legs; usually a rounded, segmented
abdomen; and chelate jaws. They breathe by tracheæ.
Called also Phalangides, Phalangidea, Phalangiida, and
Opilionea.
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Food: On its breeding grounds in
summer the surf bird feeds almost entirely on
insects,
mainly flies and beetles. The analysis of the stomach
contents of eight birds, taken in Alaska and examined by the
Biological Survey, shows the following proportions:
Diptera,
55.2 per cent; Coleoptera, 36 per cent; Lepidoptera, 3.8 per
cent; Hymenoptera,
3.3 per cent; Phalangidea, 1 per cent; snails, 5 per cent;
and seeds, 2 per cent. Mr. Dixon (1927) says of its feeding
habits:
Three days later seven surf birds were
found feeding in company at midday near this same spot. This
time they were foraging near the top of a very steep talus
slope that lay fair to the sun. Only a few scant flowers
grew amid the rocks, but insects were numerous and active.
One surf bird which, when later collected, proved to be a
male stood guard while the others fed. The slightest
movement on my part was sufficient to cause a warning note
to be given by this sentinel. When feeding, these birds ran
hurriedly over the rocks, traveling as fast or faster than a
man could walk. When an insect was sighted the pursuing surf
bird would stretch out its neck as far and as straight as
possible. Then moving stealthily forward the bird would make
a final thrust and secure the insect in its bill, much in
the same manner that a turkey stalks a
grasshopper.
At other seasons the surf bird feeds
along the water line on ocean beaches, preferring the rocky
or stony shores, or reefs exposed at low tide; here it
extracts the soft parts of barnacles, mussels, or other
crustaceans
and small mollusks,
or picks up other minute forms of marine life. It also feeds
to some extent at the surf line on sandy beaches or on mud
flats, where it picks up similar food from the surface
without probing for it. At such times the birds are quite
pugnacious unless sufficiently scattered.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Primarily insects
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Uses its beak to hunt for prey - from
land and from water
|
|
Habitat
|
Wetlands
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have the same plumage.
breeding plumagemore colorful
than non-breeding plumage
|
|
Distribution
|
Western United States
|
|
Breeding
|
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Courtship: Doctor Nelson (1887)
writes:
These are very demonstrative birds in
their love-making, and the last of May and first of June
their loud cries are heard everywhere about their haunts,
especially in morning and evening. Two or three males start
in pursuit of a female and away they go twisting and
turning, here and there, over marsh and stream, with
marvelous swiftness and dexterity. At short intervals a male
checks his flight for a moment to utter a strident poet a
iceet; wee-too, wee-too; then on he goes full tilt again.
After they have mated, or when a solitary male pays his
devotions, they rise 15 or 20 yards from the ground, where,
hovering upon quivering wings, the bird pours forth a
lisping but energetic and frequently musical song, which can
he very imperfectly expressed by the syllables peet-peet;
pee-ter-wee-too; wee-too; pee-ter-wee-too; pee-ter-wee-too;
wee-too; wee-too. This is the complete song but frequently
only fragments are sung, as when the bird is in pursuit of
the female.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Insects,
crustaceans
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Forages while walking
|
|
Habitat
|
Mudflats, shoreline,
wetlands
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have the same plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
Winters primarily along both
coasts
|
|
Breeding
|
Breeds in north Canada
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Enemies: The large gulls and
skuas,
though often successfully driven off when approaching
singly, are often successful in destroying the eggs or young
where present in numbers and the enormous increase in the
numbers of the great skua in the Shetlands has proved very
detrimental to this species. In Iceland the Arctic fox is
also an enemy to be counted with and the crow tribe (raven
and hooded crow) are always ready to take advantage of any
chance opportunity.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Primarily invertebrates
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Probing in the mud
|
|
Habitat
|
Wetlands
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have the same plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
Winters along both coasts
|
|
Breeding
|
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Behavior: Dowitchers are the gentlest
and most unsuspicious of shore birds, which has made them
easy prey for the avaricious gunner. Their flight is swift
and steady, often protracted and sometimes at a great
elevation, when looking for feeding places. They usually fly
in compact flocks by themselves, sometimes performing
interesting evolutions high in the air. They often fly,
however, in flocks with other small waders, but the
dowitchers are generally bunched together in the flock; I
once shot four dowitchers out of a mixed flock without
hitting any of the smaller birds. When a flock of dowitchers
alights the birds are closely bunched, but they soon scatter
out and begin to feed. If a flock is shot into, the
sympathetic and confiding birds return again and again to
their fallen companions until only a pitiful remnant is left
to finally escape. Such slaughter of the innocents well-nigh
exterminated this gentle species; but, now that it is
protected, it is beginning to increase again.
Although all shore birds can swim, the
dowitcher seems to be especially adept at it
Doctor
Coues (1874)
writes:
Being partly web-footed, this snipe
swims tolerably well for a little distance in an emergency,
as when it may get for a moment beyond its depth in wading
about, or when it may fail, broken-winged, on the water. On
such an occasion as this last, I have seen one swim bravely
for 20 or 30 yards, with a curious bobbing motion of the
bead and corresponding jerking of the tail, to a hiding
place in the rank grass across the pool. When thus hidden
they keep perfectly still, and may be picked up without
resistance, except a weak flutter, and perhaps a low,
pleading cry for pity on their pain and helplessness. When
feeding at their ease, in consciousness of peace and
security, few birds are of more pleasing appearance. Their
movements are graceful and their attitudes often beautifully
statuesque.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Small crustaceans,
small mollusks,
marine worms, insects
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Probes sand as waves recede
|
|
Habitat
|
Sandy beaches
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have the same plumage.
|
|
Distribution
|
Found along both coasts
|
|
Breeding
|
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Courtship: The same observer tells us
all we know about the courtship of the sanderling, as
follows:
The pairing began toward the middle of
June. The peculiar pairing flight of the male was to be seen
and heard when the weather was fine, and especially in the
evening. Uttering a snarling or slight neighing sound, he
mounts to a height of some two meters from the surface of
the ground on strongly whirring wings, to continue at this
height his flight for a short distance, most frequently in a
straight line, but sometimes in small circles.
When excited he frequently sits on the
top of a solitary large stone, his dorsal feathers blown
out, his tall spread, and his wings half let down, producing
his curious subdued pairing tones. He, however, soon returns
to the female, which always keeps mute, and then he tries by
slow, affected, almost creeping movements to induce her to
pairing, until at last the act of pairing takes place; when
effected, both birds rush away in rapid flight, to return
soon after to the nesting place. I have also observed males
in pairing flight without being able to discover any female
in the neighborhood, and then, of course, without realizing
the pairing as completing act. The male is in the pairing
time very quarrelsome, and does not permit any strange bird
to intrude on the selected domain. He seems to be meet
envious against birds of his own kin.
|
|
Name
|
|
|
Food
|
Crustaceans,
mollusks,
marine worms, insects
|
|
Feeding
Techniques
|
Probes with its large beak
|
|
Habitat
|
Wetlands and coastal shore
|
|
Plumage
|
The
male and the female have the same plumage.
- slight difference between
breeding and non-breeding
|
|
Distribution
|
Along Pacific and Atlantic coastal
areas
|
|
Breeding
|
|
|
About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
|
|
Notes from A.C.
Bent
|
Food: Doctor Roberts (1919) says of
the feeding habits of the marbled godwit:
With their long, up-curved bills they
probe the shallow water of sloughs and lake shores for
aquatic insects
and mollusks
and also spend much of their time on meadows and low-lying
prairies, where they devour grasshoppers and other
insects
of many kinds. These big birds, when they were as abundant
as they once were, must have been an important factor in
keeping in check the dangerous insect hordes of our State.
But they, with others of their kind, are gone and man is
left to fight conditions as he must with agencies of his own
devising, less efficient, perhaps, than those provided by
nature.
|