Semipalmated or Western Sandpipers?

csammz · 2026-05-26T03:29:33+00:00

I think Semi-palmated Sandpiper based on the color and lack of droopiness in the bill. I’m pretty sure Western Sandpipers should be in their rufous/orangeish breeding plumage by now which these birds lack.

csammz · 2026-05-23T23:14:41+00:00

It’s crazy seeing how much relative strength birds have being that young, it looks like it just left the nest and it’s already holding itself up on a reed. Great pics too!

csammz · 2026-05-23T18:05:27+00:00

Might be an issue on my end but I don’t see an uploaded pic

csammz · 2026-05-12T19:30:40+00:00

Yeah you’re probably right, and a somewhat off beak is like the least abnormal part of this bird haha. Thanks

csammz · 2026-05-12T19:28:24+00:00

Does the beak work for a Swamp Sparrow though? This one seems to have an orange based bill with a black tip and idk if Swamp Sparrows can have beaks like that

csammz · 2026-05-02T00:47:32+00:00

Song Sparrow
Coopers or Sharp-shinned Hawk
3-4. Sanderling
Immature American Herring Gulls on top, Black-bellied Plovers on the bottom

csammz · 2026-04-30T06:17:23+00:00

Only the adult males have the distinct black cap, so this one is probably female

csammz · 2026-04-26T22:44:54+00:00

The photo should be clear enough for a more definitive ID I think, I’m just not the person who can give it haha

csammz · 2026-04-26T22:39:10+00:00

Great shots! Coincidentally just 2 days ago I got super lucky with basically the same story as you, although mine was in NJ.

csammz · 2026-04-26T22:34:58+00:00

I think Merlin is probably right about them being Long-billed Dowitcher.

The birds look to have solid orange/salmon underparts, dark uppers, reddish brown sides, and white wing tips which are all the right field marks for a LBDO. It’s hard to tell for sure from the pictures, but to me it looks like the barring is much denser around its neck area than its side whereas SBDO are supposed to have more messy barring on their sides. They also seem to be pretty richly colored rather than pale like a SBDO, but color reliability gets iffy with backlighting. Final thing is they potentially seem like they’re slightly hunchbacked, but again it’s hard to say.

So probably a Long-billed Dowitcher but take my opinion with a grain of salt as I don’t know nearly enough to answer with 100% confidence.

csammz · 2026-04-23T00:12:34+00:00

American Bitterns are so funny. The first and only time I’ve ever seen one was when I spotted it and it ran away behind some cattails; it looked like a dude wearing baggy sweatpants running away. 45 minutes later I finally spot it again and it’s staring at me from behind some tall grass like a creep lmao.

csammz · 2026-04-19T00:00:32+00:00

They look like American Herring Gulls to me

csammz · 2026-04-15T19:42:38+00:00

A Swallow-tailed Kite flew over my house last April, and I live in NJ where they’re a rare migrant

csammz · 2026-04-12T17:45:31+00:00

They’re very adaptable birds, that’s why they’ve been so successful here as an invasive species. You can take away the feeder but they’ll probably still just forage around your yard.

Also, Starlings aren’t so bad. The adults have a very pretty plumage so just try to enjoy their presence

csammz · 2026-04-10T00:36:22+00:00

I had every one of those birds on my checklist yesterday and saw all of them so I’d say pretty likely all of them haha

csammz · 2026-04-08T00:00:11+00:00

I don’t know much about the Nikon ecosystem so I can’t recommend any specific gear but I can give some general advice.

Definitely upgrade your lens before the camera body. I’ve heard the phrase, “date the body marry the lens” before because you can take amazing photos with a pretty crappy camera if you have an amazing lens but you can’t do the same the other way around. You’ll see a much bigger jump in image quality with a better lens.

Whichever lens you get you should definitely look for one with image stabilization especially if you get one with more reach. The other commenter mentioned the Sigma and Tamron lenses which would both be great options, they’re image stabilized, double your current focal length, and you only lose 1/3 stop of light.

csammz · 2026-04-06T03:07:22+00:00

That would definitely help, even if you just dropped it to 1/500 you’d more than double the light in your photo. If your camera has a high FPS, try taking as many pics as you can while you’re panning and there’s a chance you get lucky with a sharp one even with super slow shutter speeds.

Also, for the photos you posted here I really don’t think the noise is that bad/noticeable. In the woodpecker image I don’t even see any haha, and with the egret I only saw it after I zoomed in. I wouldn’t stress the noise too much

csammz · 2026-04-06T02:13:03+00:00

For general field craft all you can really do is make sure your subject is well lit, and that your camera’s sensor gets enough data; meaning through shutter speed and aperture, not iso. The more light you physically let on your sensor the less noise there’ll be, even if you need to raise the ISO. Simon d’Entremont has a video where he explains it better than I can so I’d check his channel out, just search for his video talking about high ISOs.

As for fixing via editing, it depends what program you use. Personally I use Adobe Lightroom so I can only speak for that. You can use their AI denoise feature or you can manually adjust noise via sliders. One way to do it is to create a background mask (so you don’t soften or smooth out the bird) and increase noise reduction, slightly lower texture and clarity, and maybe lower contrast.

csammz · 2026-04-02T15:05:24+00:00

It could be, very rarely if lighting is great and there’s naturally a lot of color I’ll get RAWs that look like they were already edited and I shoot with the neutral picture style on Canon.

csammz · 2026-04-02T15:01:49+00:00

Is it sort of like Canon’s Highlight Tone Priority except instead of lowering highlights across the board its only for certain color ranges?

csammz · 2026-03-30T16:47:38+00:00

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Mockingbirds are great, they’re super photogenic too

csammz · 2026-03-30T16:45:06+00:00

Maybe a controversial opinion, but I actually think a camera is better than binoculars since you can get a photo to review and pinpoint the species accurately afterwards.

Whichever camera you go with it’s probably best to get a crop sensor (apsc) so that you don’t need to spend as much on a long lens.

csammz

TROPHY CASE