Wader ID

[Michael W]

Here's a wader for ID.
It was taken at a lake in Idaho.

Good luck!
Michael

[CJW]

Solitary Sandpiper.

[Michael W]

Close...
Keep guessing!

Michael

[Paul Rule]

Ok so there is another bird behind the log, so its a Less Solitary Sandpiper 3:-)

[Michael W]

Nope, there's not another bird behind the log, and it's not a Solitary Sandpiper.
Keep guessing!

Michael

[Michael Frankis]

I think Solitary Sand too, but if it isn't, then I'll go for Spotted Sand. But with very little conviction - only Solitary has that prominent a white eye-ring

Michael

[dennis]

YIKES! I would have guessed Solitary also. Now I'm confused!!

dennis

[Michael W]

That's right, it's a Spotted Sandpiper in winter plumage. I didn't mention that it was bobbing, which is a characteristic of the Spotted Sandpiper. Also, Solitary Sandpipers don't come through here very often, but that doesn't mean anything. Sibley's shows the Spotted Sandpiper with a white eye-ring.

Michael

[Larry Lade]

I also thought it was a Solitary Sandpiper!

Larry

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Michael,

Hmmm . . . got any more pics of the same bird??

I'd like to see a side-on pic for confirmation of Spotted ;)

Michael

[Michael W]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think that Solitary Sandpipers bobbed. Does anyone know?

Michael

[Michael Frankis]

Of course you did spot it, so it is spotted, but it is on its own, so it is also solitary . . . :-O

[Michael W]

I don't have any more pictures...sorry.

Michael

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Michael

I've seen both Green Sands and Wood Sands bob (Europe's replacements for Solitary, all three being small Tringa spp.), though not with the intensity that Spotted Sands/Common Sands (both Actitis spp.) do

Michael

[Michael W]

You may be right about this one guys. It wasn't bobbing a whole lot. If Solitary Sandpipers do bob, I won't hold to it that it's a Spotted Sandpiper.

Michael

[Michael W]

Hello again!
My dad (an avid birder who was present at the time of the sighting and grew up seeing lots of Solitary Sandpipers) and I have done a little researching and have come up with the following characteristics that convince us that it's a Spotted Sandpiper:

1. It "bobbed" as apposed to "nodding".
2. It flew with stiff wings.
3. Spotted Sandpipers are common in that area.
4. The sandpiper had a sort of a striped eye ring.
5. The sandpiper was more stocky than a typical Solitary Sandpiper.

Refer to "Peterson Field Guide to Birds", "The Audubon Society-Master Guide to Birding", "Stokes Field Guide to Birds", and "The Sibley Guide to Birds".

Thanks,
Michael

[CJW]

Solitary Sand's 'bob' - I've seen them do it.
This is a Solitary Sandpiper.

[Darrell Clegg]

I have to concur with this as a Solitary Sandpiper. The eye ring is obvious. The legs are also too long to be a Spotted Sand, and there seems to be one or two white spots on the back - these would be black in Spotted.

Darrell

[logos]

Despite what appears to be one white spot on the upperparts which might suggest a molting adult Solitary Sand I'm in favour of this being a Spotted due to the very brightly coloured legs (fleshy yellow on my monitor and lacking the green tones of even the palest Solitary). The eye-ring is indeed prominent but so is that of Spotted, especially when viewed at an angle that means adjacent supercillium can't be seen.

Knowing the date would help.

I don't think the behaviour stuff will help much though the stiff wing action seems very significant.

Did the bird have a wingbar?

Although only a minor clue the habitat here is typical for Spotted but would be odd for Solitary. Solitary is a scarce bird in Wash. State as mentioned above.

I think that this is a Spotted then but that it happens to look like a Solitary in Jizz and due to a cruel trick played by the angle and light.

Spud

[CJW]

1) The leg colour is well within the range of Solitary Sandpiper,
2) The uniformity of the size of the eye ring is right for Solitary (Spotted would show a thinner lower-half even at this angle),
3) The lack of white behind the eye is right for Solitary (Spotted would still show some white super, even at this angle).
4) The scarcity of the species in Washington State is completely irrelevant as is the choice of habitat for a 'vagrant'.

But that's only my opinion and I've been wrong before.

[CJW]

Sorry for the liberties taken with your original Michael! Just a thought......

[Michael Frankis]

Hi CJ,

Good photo-edit!

One other point in favour of Spotted, is the stout base of the bill and its slight down-curvature - anyone any thoughts on that?

Michael

[CJW]

Foreshortening.

[marek_walford]

My first reaction was Solitary Sand because of the eye ring and the apparent upright stance. However, the legs are very yellow and it's an odd angle. I appreciate birds can turn up anyway but a sandy shore seems more appropriate for Spotted than Solitary.

[marek_walford]

Sorry, just realised I've repeated what logos said.

However, it's a very plain bird; surely Solitary Sand would be fairly spotted (assuming non-breeding plumage)? To repeat logos again, what was the date?

[logos]

We need to know the date. Though for a Solitary Sand to show so little upperpart patterning in any plumage (including transitional states) would be very unusual, The bird appears to have all or most of its tertials intact but not one of them shows any of the prominent white spotting which is visible in even all old feathers (of course they are very unlikely to be all old in a bird which is far removed from any fresh breeding adult in all other ways.

The head shows no hint of streaking so cannot be the summer feathering of a Solitary yet there is a dark streak running behind the eye which is not typical of winter Solitary. The very bright eye-ring catches the light from above at a particular angle, as does the white on part of the flanks. Despite being unrealsitically bright the eye-ring appears broken at the rear in a manner typical of Spotted but not Solitary.

The leg colour cannot possibly be irrelevant. Is there a single record of a Solitary with no green tones in its legs?, The bright legs and better eyering of non-breeding Spotted are useful features when compared with Common Sandpiper.

The shape of Spotted Sandpipers varies as much as Common Sandpipers in Europe, when feeding quietly on mud they seem stout but when chasing along wavelines they are altogether more leggy and dynamic looking.

The flight action described is out of keeping with the manic style of Solitary but exactly right for Spotted.

Spud

[CJW]

Whatever you say Spud.
This might be worth commenting on - the legs don't appear to have any green tones, but then judging colour is often unreliable from a single, blurred photograph (no offence Michael), nor is it particularly well-marked as you seem to be relying on as a pointer towards Spotted

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.mailbag.com/users/maverick/solitary.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mailbag.com/users/maverick/birdSOSA.html&h=500&w=684&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSolitary%2BSandpiper%26svnum%3D10%26h l%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DG

[Alastair Rae]

I too went for Solitary from the greeny hue and the white around the eye.

I have this (incorrect!) mental picture of a Spotted as just being a Common Sandpiper with spots in the summer. When you see them with the spots, you don't notice the other differences from Common.

Thanks Michael for an interesting pic.

[erik]

I think it's a sandpiper :D

That's how far my knowledge goes on shorebirds...

my deepest respect for all this people contributing on this thread. Especially on Michael, being 13 years old and displaying quite some knowledge. Congrats!!

[digi-birder]

Originally posted by erik
I think it's a sandpiper :D

That's how far my knowledge goes on shorebirds...


It's a wader... that's how far mine goes! :t:

[Michael W]

Hi guys,
Sorry, I've been sleeping and missed all the fun...
The date was September 5, 2003. It was at Priest Lake if that makes any difference.
It might be good to mention that my first impression with the eye-ring was that of a Wandering Tattler - stripy instead of a normal eye ring.

Thanks,
Michael

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Michael,

Hmmm . . . 'stripy' would suggest Spotted more than Solitary, but if you're comparing it to a Tattler, their overall structure is closer to Solitary than to Spotted.

Don't know if you missed Spud's request way back in the rush of posts - can you remember if it had a wingbar or not when it flew? That would be a sure answer to its identity.

Michael

[Michael W]

Hi Michael,
I don't remember if it had a wingbar, sorry. I think it did, but I'm not sure.

The only part of the Tattler that I was comparing was the eye-ring, not the overall body structure.

Thanks,
Michael

[marek_walford]

If it did fly on stiff wings as was said earlier on then it must have been Spotted. Solitary might bob in a Spotted fashion but they don't fly in a Spotted fashion.

[Larry Lade]

Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularia

After reading all the posts and reviewing the field guides I have to reverse my initial call of Solitary Sandpiper and go with Spotted Sandpiper. In all plumages Solitary Sandpiper would show more distinctive white spots on the back/wings. There only seemed to be a couple spots (if any) on the bird in question . The bill seems to be more consistent with Spotted (stouter than that of a Solitary) and perhaps slightly down curved [as Michael F. mentioned]. Also, Michael W. said, "it flew with stiff wings". This trait is very diagnostic of a Spotted Sandpiper! *I assume the "stiff wings" meant fast wing beats followed by bowed, stiff wing glide.

Larry

[Michael W]

Thanks Larry,
You're right about it flying with fast wing beats followed by a stiff winged glide. That's exactly what it did.

Thanks again,
Michael

[tonyhull]

There's nothing unusual about this bird being a Spotted (which is what I first thought it was when I saw the photo). All the pro-Spotted features mentioned above but especially Solitary's are heavily spotted above and Spotted's do show a prominent eyering.Solitary Sand (http://www.assateague.com/data-bird/y-solitary-sandpiper.jpg) Spotted Sand (http://www.mailbag.com/users/maverick/spotted.jpg)