tags: Least Sandpiper, Calidris minutilla, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Least Sandpiper, Calidris minutilla, photographed at Smith Point Hawk Watch, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 23 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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Yellow legs, looks Calidris...so adult non-breeding plumage Least Sandpiper.
Because of the sweet dove like look I think it's a Buff -breasted Sandpiper
A Buff-breasted Sandpiper would have a buff breast. This one has a brown breast, with lots of white below. I find the brown breast of a Least Sandpiper a more useful field mark than the yellowish legs (shown nicely on this bird, but often harder to see). Western (and Semipalmated, I guess--we don't see them very often in southern CA) have white breasts.
ooops... I thought that was just the angle of the photo... I'm in Florida on the Gulf and I thought we had those little beauties by the flocks...
That white you mentioned... well I called it buff colour.... I'm wrong all the way around...
Hey John,
I understood that a key field mark on a Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) would be the feather edges on the upperwing coverts which should be blackish-centered with rusty/orange edges and white tips... I agree with excluding the Western (C. mauri) and Semipalmated (C. pusilla) but because they have black legs... so I'm considering something more occasional like a Temminck's Stint (C. temminckii) in non-breeding plumage...?
http://cyberbirding.uib.no/photo/prey_shorebirds/c_temminckii_01.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/liquidstone/image/74331230/medium.jpg
Oh wait... just saw a photo of a non-breeding Least Sandpiper...
John -- speaking from NE Illinois, where we hope for Western's (saw one this weekend, actually), Semi's show a fair bit of dusky color on the breast. I think it is a Least, but has anyone considered Pectoral (or even Sharp-tailed)?
A small stint with yellow legs, I'd say Least Sandpiper in non-breeding plumage. It doesn't look bulky enough for Pectoral and the tail should be longer than the wings in Temminck's. Sharp-tailed usually shows a definite cap of brown/rufous.