Taco
Well-known member
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
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