Radio Road pond, Foster City, California [taken April 2007]
The pond at the very end of Radio Road is a great location for photography. it has great afternoon light and the photographer can creep right down to the water's edge. Getting down at eye level with the birds helps you see the world from their view point. Dowitchers spend most of their time in the water, "probing the ground with a sewing-machine like motion" so it was a real treat to see this bird fully out of the water. If you look closely, you can see partial webbing between the toes of both feet. The breeding colors and the bunchy posture give this bird a lot of personality. Identifying dowitcher species is tough, but in breeding plumage the spotting pattern on the breast and sides plus the extensive white on the underparts make this bird a Short-billed (Thanks to Al Jaramillo and Stephanie Ellis for help with this identification).
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