Green or Wood Sandpiper? (1 Viewer)

HokkaidoStu

occasional moderator

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• Sep 7, 2008

• #1

I saw this wader on the beach this afternoon. I'm in Hokkaido, Japan by the way..........

Waders generally aren't my strong point. I must admit I had this down as a juvenile Wood Sandpiper (it looked quite long legged and dainty, and the supercilium looked fairly pronounced or so I thought) but now I'm not so sure. Could it be a Green Sandpiper?

I didn't get a good view of it in flight so didn't see the underwing pattern (which is how I usually ID these 2 species, neither of which I see regularly).

Any opinions by folk more knowledgeable than myself would be much appreciated....

The second picture is the same bird with, I believe, a Lesser Sand Plover.

 

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B

BobTag

Guest

• Sep 7, 2008

• #2

You're right, it's a Wood Sand. And yes, it's with a juv LSP (Mongolian Plover) in pic 2.

 

T

Th_SQ

Well-known member

• Sep 7, 2008

• #3

Structurally it's a Wood Sandpiper imho.

A Lesser Sandplover with such long and pale legs ? Maybe.

 

B&G

Well-known member

• Sep 7, 2008

• #4

Hello,
it is a wood sanpiper to me.
Moses-birding club of lake baringo,kenya

 

T

Tanager

Well-known member

• Sep 7, 2008

• #5

Yep, Structurally it's a Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper has shorter legs and appears fatter. The prominent supercilium also helps id this as a juvenile Wood Sand .As a rule of thumb, to my eyes Green Sands always look more monochrome - dark above and pale below, whereas Wood Sand doesn't, the dark upperparts are broken up by these pale spots.

Nice photo by the way.

Cheers,

Mark

 

HokkaidoStu

occasional moderator

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• Sep 7, 2008

• #6

Thanks a lot for everyone's replies.

Actually both species (the Wood Sand and the LS Plover in picture #2) were both local ticks..........hence my caution ID-wise.

 

T

Th_SQ

Well-known member

• Sep 7, 2008

• #7

stuprice68 said:

Actually both species (the Wood Sand and the LS Plover in picture #2) were both local ticks.......

Click to expand...

Just by curiosity, do you have other pictures of the Sand Plover ?

 

HokkaidoStu

occasional moderator

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• Sep 7, 2008

• #8

Th_SQ said:

Just by curiosity, do you have other pictures of the Sand Plover ?

Click to expand...

Hi, there were 2 Sand Plovers, here are some heavily cropped shots.

 

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HokkaidoStu

occasional moderator

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• Sep 7, 2008

• #9

And here are some more..........

The shortish bill led me to Lesser Sand Plover although the legs aren't so dark and seem a tad long.......

 

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JANJ

Well-known member

• Sep 7, 2008

• #10

All nice examples of Lesser Sandplovers with the pale tipped upperparts juvenile.
Yellowish legs not so wrong for some - bill zise and shape good for LSP..

http://shorebirds.exblog.jp/pg/blog...opt=1&srl=1174493&dte=2005-03-19+01:22:00.000

http://shorebirds.exblog.jp/pg/blog...opt=1&srl=1158721&dte=2005-03-17+22:39:00.000

Geater:

http://shorebirds.exblog.jp/pg/blog...opt=2&srl=2539822&dte=2005-08-21+00:11:00.000

http://shorebirds.exblog.jp/pg/blog...opt=1&srl=1195399&dte=2005-03-20+23:02:00.000

JanJ

 

HokkaidoStu

occasional moderator

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• Sep 7, 2008

• #11

Thanks Jan, I figured it was Lesser.

Greaters are pretty scarce in Japan..........

 

T

Th_SQ

Well-known member

• Sep 7, 2008

• #12

Thanks stuprice68, nice pictures and nice Lesser Sandplovers !

 

B

BobTag

Guest

• Sep 7, 2008

• #13

Th_SQ said:

Just by curiosity, do you have other pictures of the Sand Plover ?

Click to expand...

Told 'ya