France/Spain trip Jul/Aug - lot 1! (1 Viewer)

Just been on a 3 week wander through N Spain from Santander to Collioure (Med Spanish/French border), then Dordogne, Brenne and Baie de Somme….. so a few ID's to confirm and a couple that I am having trouble with. Any help appreciated.

These from Santona estuary East of Santander

1. Sandwich tern - bill black with yellow tip, long and pointed. No crest visible but bill does it for me vs. Gull-billed. Agree?
2 & 3. Puzzled by this one - in company with curlews as you see in the (poor) photo, but it looked uniformly brown all over through bins and in photo 2, although photo 3 from the rear suggests a lighter under tail area …… just a muddy juv. curlew? It was a long way off and the view was through bushes from the side of a busy road so scoping was not an option unfortunately.
4 & 5 Long distance digi-scope photos although the terrain was that green!. Ad Sanderling moulting to winter? Legs dark, size approx same as Ringed plover that were with it. Bill looks a little long to me for certainty, and would seem to exclude Little Stint (size as well, but that is always a bit suspect)

Thanks - more to come - see lot 2

Which bird in Photo 2 is the one your looking at - the top LHS bird has a Whimbrel feel about it. Photo 1 is certainly a Sandwich Tern and would agree with Sanderling for 4 and 5.

1 is Sandwich Tern
2/3 is difficult from the photo quality, but looks more like Whimbrel to me
4/5 is a Sanderling

Ditto to:
1 - Sandwich Tern
2/3 - Whimbrel
4/5 - Sanderling

Phil Andrews said:

Which bird in Photo 2 is the one your looking at - the top LHS bird has a Whimbrel feel about it. Photo 1 is certainly a Sandwich Tern and would agree with Sanderling for 4 and 5.

Click to expand...

The bird in photo 3 is the same as the one in the lower left in photo 2 in rear view. Pretty sure the other two in photo 3 are curlews. It is the seemingly uniform colour of the upper and underparts - indeed of the whole bird - that struck me as unusual.

Mick