Wader/Shorebird ID

[Grousemore]

A couple of birds here(taken recently in Florida) which may or may not be easy to ID...

[Michael W]

Dunlin and Semipalmated Sandpipers. :bounce: But I may not be sure...

[Larry Lade]

I also think it is a Dunlin and (probable) Semipalmated Sandpipers.

[Joern Lehmhus]

I´d think the same...

[Grousemore]

Another view.

[M Cowming]

I'll chance my arm with Great Knot & Least Sandpipers... I have a feeling the light is playing tricks with the tone and colouring of the birds. I may be very wrong though.

[Steve Lister]

I'll chance my arm with Great Knot & Least Sandpipers... I have a feeling the light is playing tricks with the tone and colouring of the birds. I may be very wrong though.


No, the 'big one' is a Dunlin but don't the peeps look tiny in the photos?

Steve

[CJW]

Dunlin and Least Sand.

[M Cowming]

Well, Dunlin crossed my mind but it looks way too big, unless it's a trick of the camera.
In my mind, it's one of two..if not dunlin of course, and that's GK or Stilt Sand. I'll stick with it till Grousemore confirms either way.

I can see your point though. The dark legs on the peeps don't favour Leasts either but like I said, maybe it's a light thing. interested to see the answers revealed.

Regards

[MikeDale]

You know I'm glad someone finally wrote what I was thinking, I'm not sure so I kept my fingers off the keyboard.

The large one (Dunlin?) looks enormous in comparison to the smaller ones (Semi-p's?). Now I'm at home I'm going to have a look through my ID guides and perhaps make a suggestion.

[Michael W]

I'm going to switch my vote to Least Sandpipers if that's okay... ;)

[MikeDale]

A Dunlin is around 8.5", a Semipalmated around 6.25" and a Least around 6".

The black legs suggest Semipalmated rather than Least, but the Dunlin does look huge. Still thinking about this one.

[MikeDale]

The female of the Hudsonia race of Dunlin which winters in the SE US is the largest race of Dunlin but even so it looks huge compared to the peeps which I still think are Semipalmated.

[Grousemore]

...and it's standing in water.

[MikeDale]

It can't be a Stilt can it? Not with that colour legs surely.

[Grousemore]

It can't be a Stilt can it? Not with that colour legs surely.

Stilt sandpiper it is...looked a lot more convincing in the field, before entering the water.
As far as the 'peeps' are concerned, there were semi-p and least around that area, so your guesses are as good as mine ;)

[Larry Lade]

Sure fooled me!

The larger bird sure gave me the impression that it was a Dunlin, but now looking at the tibia (upper leg) it must be a Stilt Sandpiper. (The tibia of a Dunlin would be much shorter.) However the leg color looks dark, not only on the Stilt Sandpiper (which should have yellowish legs) but on all the birds in the photos. Given that this is a Stilt Sandpiper and that the legs of all the birds look dark, I am now inclined to believe that these are indeed Least Sandpipers and not Semipalmated Sandpipers. The overall plumage characteristics and bill shape look to me to be more in keeping with Least Sandpipers. I was "put off" this identification because Least Sandpipers have yellow legs and I could not believe that the legs were yellow from the photos.

It just goes to show you that you cannot always trust the color in photos (or in real life, for that matter) all the time.

Trevor, do you remember if the sun were backlighting the birds when you took the photos? If so, I believe that may account for the dark looking legs on all of the birds in your photos.

[MikeDale]

Good one Trevor, got me going for a long while.

[CJW]

You really are a git Trevor!
You only posted that because it looked like a Dunlin ;)

[MikeDale]

I was at work when I first saw the picture and thought thats a big Dunlin! I decided to stay out of it until I got home and had looked up the largest race Dunlin I could find! There was just something about the 'Dunlin' that didn't quite look right.

[Grousemore]

You really are a git Trevor!
You only posted that because it looked like a Dunlin ;)

Rumbled again!....when I went to look at my nice Stilt Sand pic, I thought 'where did that Dunlin come from?'
Larry is right about the light, early morning towards the sun, but Mike Dale wins the coconut!