Stupid question??? (1 Viewer)

Hi everyone,

I guess I'll start by saying that I am not the worlds greatest peep expert, to say the least. I feel as though I know my local peeps pretty well (I.E. Semi, least, western, bairds, etc.) but I doubt that I would know a stint if it walked up to me holding a sign labled "I am a Long-toad Stint," pecked me in the eye, started talking some foreign language which many times included C. subminuta in its rambling, then kenn Kaufman, David Sibley, and some scientist holding a museum specimen all told me what it was! Maybe thats a little extravagated, but peeps are hard, in my opinion.

Back to what I was going to say....Last week I took a trip to the New Hamshire and Maine coasts for seabirds, shorebirds, boreal species, and whatever came my way. I felt the sharp-tailed sparrows were easier then I thought, but when it came to Calidris sandpipers, I came into a little trouble. On our secound day in New Hamshire we came to a beach called Jenness Beach, which had reports of a few good gulls. It was raining and peeps were all over the place. It was tough to sort through them all, but there was one that especially caught my eye. First I thought "wow, a Stint!" but then I thought "wait, yea right" so then looking more closely I said, "how the hell do you tell it from all these other peeps?" My first instinct called it a Stint, because of the odd color pattern around the neck. My dad took a few looks at it, but he's sort of a starting birder, and the bird soon flew. Size was a tough one to determain, but I thought was larger then the nearby semipalmated peeps. Bill size/color and leg size/ color also seemed right for a Red-necked Stint, but I couldn't take in all that much more, considering it was raining, hard to concentrate, and the bird soon flew to the huge flock of other peeps. In the other flock I saw a few peeps that appeared to be mollting adult Sanderlings, and the thought later crossed my mind that the first 'stint' was probably just a Sanderling.

Reports later that day didn't yeild to any stints at the beach, but 'sanderlings were common.' I once thought that the sanderlings were distintive by themselves, but now I wonder a lot about whether my bird was a stint or not, especially after viewing a few pictures of the stint. So I guess I just want to ask if any of you can give advice on how to tell stints from other sandpipers, such as a molting sanderling. I know I don't have enough info on my bird, considering the best 'for sure' field mark I came up with was the right color and neck pattern of the Red-necked Stint, but perhaps I could get some advice for when I really run into a stint.

So......thanks in advance,
Taco

The problem of a Sanderling in worn summer plumage resembling a Red-necked Stint has cropped up a few times. The simplest way to rule out a Sanderling is to look for the hindtoe, Sanderlings don't have one. If the bird isn't close enough to see the toes it maybe isn't close enough to identify anyway though Sanderlings are distinctly larger than all stints and peeps.

Dave.

In addition to Dave's sage words (and yes everyone I know has fallen for the Sanderling/stint thing if only momentarily) is habit. Sanderling are seldom more than a few feet from the surf...running about like clockwork mice. Little Stints will trundle about on a beach... but they much prefer muddy margins.

On the Size... Sanderling are bigger than our race of Dunlin.. but probably smaller....but stockier than your race... RN Stint and Little Stint look significantly smaller than Semi P and Long-toed is very close to Least Sand in size.

Finally - Sanderling has a whopping wing bar - far more prominent in flight than any peep/stint.... calls help too

Jane Turner said:

(and yes everyone I know has fallen for the Sanderling/stint thing if only momentarily)

Click to expand...

The British Birds' Rarities Committee were on the brink of accepting Britain's first record of Red-necked Stint and were stunned when the expert advice they'd sought from Scandinavia came back explaining why it was a Sanderling!

Sorry this took so long for a reply, I've been having a few issues with my computer, so nothing new. I appreciate the responses, good to hear that the BBRC also made the same mistake as I! Shorebirds are coming in now, hope perhaps I'll catch a stint this fall, and I'll make sure to check the toes. I actually remember something I read on the toes of peeps, I think I can find that, it talked of semi. sandpipers having different feet then others, or something like that. Wing bar and hind toe-got to remember that. I think one thing that threw me off was the Sanderling wasn't acting like the Sanderling's that I have seen before (i.e. running with the waves), it was about 20 yards in away from the water and was feeding just like all the other peeps, but I suppose the Sanderlings dont have to play by the book.

Now to go find a stint, thanks for the advice-