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Re: Common Redshank



Hi C-birders,

A Bullock's Oriole was recently discovered coming to a feeder in Vienna, 
VA (up near DC, about 4 hours from the Triangle), according to the 
Virginia birding listserv. And the Florida listserv says the Barn 
Swallows and Chimney Swifts are on their way...

On Wed, 20 Mar 2002, Sharon Turner wrote:
> 
> For what it's worth,Sharon and I talked to a couple from Canada today at
> Huntington BSP. They told us they were pretty sure they saw the C.
> Redshank about 2:30 off of the Carrigan Trail platform hanging with some
> L. Yellowlegs. We all went back to the platform and only found one
> L.Yellowleg. We then headed for the saltmarsh which was at low tide and
> looked over 8 or 10 Yellowlegs--no Redshank!! I'll try again tomorrow
> with my camera at hand.

Yellowlegs have been recorded with distinctly reddish- (and greenish-) 
colored legs. This often fools birders into thinking they've got a 
vagrant, especially birders who haven't looked at thousands of yellowlegs 
to appreciate how variable their leg color can be. Unless these Canadians 
had some field marks to go on besides just leg color... Consider this 
quote from the California Bird Records Committee (they didn't accept this 
report): 
"SPOTTED REDSHANK Tringa erythropus. A Tringa seen at Winchester, RIV, 28 
Sep 1996 (1996-131) was reported to look like a yellowlegs but to have 
red legs. It was never seen in flight or heard calling. Most Committee 
members felt a record of such a rarity should be supported by a 
description that at a minimum included the extent of the white on the 
back and rump."

In doing a little web-surfing, I've found quotes from a few birders 
saying that some Ruffs can have bright red legs and be confused with 
redshanks as well. Still a rare bird, but not nearly as rare as Common 
Redshank, which as far as I know has never been confirmed in the US! 
(they are reported pretty regularly, but noone ever gets a convincing 
photo; kinda like Ivory- billed Woodpeckers, or Bigfoot...)

For an amusing bit of evidence, an excerpt from Kenn Kaufmann's great 
book "Kingbird Highway" concerning pretty much this very problem is 
on-line at
http://www.petersononline.com/birds/kingbird/excerpt20.shtml

Good birding,

Josh


Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/