woodhornbirder
Well-known member
Autumn is a great time of year for migrant waders, but although its so exciting, its also really worrying that its so easy to misidentify small waders!
Last week I was look at grp of waders on a beach in northumberland, and spotted a strange looking wader, which i thought looked rather promising!
HOwever my friend informed me it was a juvenile sanderling, which i didnt agreew ith, but as the bird was on a beech i let it go....(it wasnt behaving like the other sanderling further down the beech, but did have dark bill/legs)
I guess this is one of the reasons i love wadersis they arent easy to identify, however most of thet ime the frustration comes from being too distant, and poor light.
[not being able to afford a £300+ scope limits the distance i can identify waders from]
Ok so most waders80% are gonna be bogstandard, but when it comes to dunlin and stint sized waders, there is always the chance of missing something.
For example the white rumped sand that turned up in the area recently, was seen 2 days before its official arrival, but due to very bad visibility, and a skitish grpof dunlins it was overlooked. (noones admitting this ofcourse!)
SO am rambling towards, the thorny issue of picking out small waders, due to moulting/juveniles +distance/weather. Makes a birders life frustrating and yet i guess the challenge is what keeps us hooked!
ANyone have any insights into this size grp(of waders) ?
i am including...
little stint(adults between summer and winter plumage)
least
bairds
semipalmated
western
whiterumped
(sharptailed) is alot more obvious tbh
excluding temmincks, as only bad visibility should cause this to be misidentified, well in theory
Last week I was look at grp of waders on a beach in northumberland, and spotted a strange looking wader, which i thought looked rather promising!
HOwever my friend informed me it was a juvenile sanderling, which i didnt agreew ith, but as the bird was on a beech i let it go....(it wasnt behaving like the other sanderling further down the beech, but did have dark bill/legs)
I guess this is one of the reasons i love wadersis they arent easy to identify, however most of thet ime the frustration comes from being too distant, and poor light.
[not being able to afford a £300+ scope limits the distance i can identify waders from]
Ok so most waders80% are gonna be bogstandard, but when it comes to dunlin and stint sized waders, there is always the chance of missing something.
For example the white rumped sand that turned up in the area recently, was seen 2 days before its official arrival, but due to very bad visibility, and a skitish grpof dunlins it was overlooked. (noones admitting this ofcourse!)
SO am rambling towards, the thorny issue of picking out small waders, due to moulting/juveniles +distance/weather. Makes a birders life frustrating and yet i guess the challenge is what keeps us hooked!
ANyone have any insights into this size grp(of waders) ?
i am including...
little stint(adults between summer and winter plumage)
least
bairds
semipalmated
western
whiterumped
(sharptailed) is alot more obvious tbh
excluding temmincks, as only bad visibility should cause this to be misidentified, well in theory
Last edited:
