12 replies to this topic

[paulkienitz]

What kind of shorebird has this fancy of a back pattern?

 

On another topic, last year in the Sierra foothills, we saw something that we visually IDed as glossy ibis... but the best picture I got was pretty poor.

 

Is that sufficient for confirmation?

I'm going back to the same place this weekend -- maybe I'll see them again.  There were sandhill cranes there too.

[nono0606]

Id call that an adult Willet in breeding plumes and I agree with juv Glossy Ibis.

[kozmik111]

What would make you say this is a glossy ibis over a white faced? Glossy are very rare out west and there is a year round population of white-faced in the sierras

[paulkienitz]

maybe... I looked through dozens of willet pictures without finding anything like those back spots... though I think I found a rough match eventually.

[Harrier]

The willet is molting out if its dark breeding plumage into gray nonbreeding, so it appears to have spots.

[kozmik111]

There is no doubt that pic #1 is a willet in late breeding plumage

[paulkienitz]

kozmik111:

What would make you say this is a glossy ibis over a white faced? Glossy are very rare out west and there is a year round population of white-faced in the sierras

Huh.  We didn't get that close; we probably saw it as a better match for glossy than white-faced just because most of them looked very dark.  I didn't at the time look at the range map.

[nono0606]

The Ibis I'm most likely incorrect about it was just a guess the bill seemed a little off for white-faced to me, I can't say I looked at the range map either. Here is a picture of a Willet in similar plumes...

 

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[paulkienitz]

kozmik111:

What would make you say this is a glossy ibis over a white faced? Glossy are very rare out west and there is a year round population of white-faced in the sierras

Well, I got back to the same place a year later, and this time I got good pictures of the ibises.  (Or is that "ibes"?)  These alleged white-faced ibises do not show any trace of white faces...

 

But when I took a deliberately overexposed picture to bring out the colors, which were pretty near pure black to the naked eye...

...it looks like the irises might be red.  If so that confirms white-faced, right?

[creeker]

You are right about the red iris Paul. That confirms White-faced. It would be an extreme rarity to have that many Glossy Ibis in California at one time.

[doc]

I have never seen a "white faced" ibis with a white face.  And, after being used to dull grey Willets, I was astounded when I saw one in breeding plumage....... sure looks like a different bird when it's all duded up!

[ginspin16]

lol i said the same thing about the first willet i saw that wasn't during winter, i thought i had a new lifer

[paulkienitz]

When I posted a molting willet here a few weeks ago, I had to be argued into believing that's what it was.