eBird photos flagged and kicked back as a Ruff(!?) - SW Michigan U.S. from 4/16/17 (1 Viewer)

I had this bird as Buff-breasted Sandpiper, and it was accepted for the past 4 years as such. My eBird reviewer e-mailed me today that someone kicked it back as a Ruff. Ruff is review species in Michigan and not sure what I have would past muster, with the limited knowledge I have. Small head, long neck, short bill I could see fitting. Raised wing looks like a white bar on the right wing. Looks like longer legs than Pectoral, which is why I spotted it initially as the flight shape looked off to me. I also thought the underwing was too clean for Pectoral. I also posted to Whatbird forum, and had a couple of confirmations there, but wanted to do due diligence as it is rough pics of a review species.



Top Left bird in these pics

Well, I don't think I'd identify this at all - but it looks more like a buff-breasted sandpiper to me. Reviewer maybe hasn't seen many ruffs...

Butty said:

Well, I don't think I'd identify this at all - but it looks more like a buff-breasted sandpiper to me. Reviewer maybe hasn't seen many ruffs...

Click to expand...

I think it was someone else that flagged it on eBird as wrong species. He did say he did think it was off for BBSA, but didn’t really give an opinion if he agreed with the Ruff ID.

So why did he accept it in the first place? We'll never know... Sounds like a reviewer without much gumption.