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Purple or Rock Sandpiper, Svalbard? (1 Viewer)

Golfer1

Well-known member
This bird was with a group of Purple sandpipers, but much paler with the brighter orange patch on top of the head. Is it a colour varient of the Purple sandpiper?
Thanks
 

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Not a Purple Sandpiper in breeding plumage? If it was a Rock Sandpiper it would be a first for the WP.....

(its nice to include the date and location on ID requests - it helps ;))
 
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That dark belly patch does hint at Rock, and while there's no WP records, it is a species that could turn up, particularly with arctic ice barriers disappearing, and Svalbard is the sort of place one might turn up. The only question is whether Purple ever shows any similar dark belly patch.


Of course some suggest the two should be lumped into one species . . .
 
Well, I'm glad I didn't know it was Svalbard, because I probably would have just agreed with Purple ;)

Seriously, the bill just strikes me as wrong for purple...too long and downcurved, IMO.
 
I can't find a photo of Purple Sandpiper looking quite like this bird. Are there any other photos, especially with the other birds?
 
Sorry the birds tended to hide among the stones and driftwood, so hard to get a photo of them together. But I attach a different angle of the mystery bird and one of the 'normal' looking Purple Sandpipers. All the others looked like this one, and the mystery bird was obviously paler and brighter coloured than all the others in the group.
 

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I'm a little reluctant to contribute to this thread as I have no experience of rock sandpiper and have been caught-out by summer plumage purple sand in the past. That said, with Sibley and Shorebirds in front of me, I'm struggling to find any reasons why this isn't a rock sand.
 
Sorry the birds tended to hide among the stones and driftwood, so hard to get a photo of them together. But I attach a different angle of the mystery bird and one of the 'normal' looking Purple Sandpipers. All the others looked like this one, and the mystery bird was obviously paler and brighter coloured than all the others in the group.

Thanks, nice photos and the bird in question does look great. Like Stuart, I've never seen a RS so not pushing an ID on this one. 11 posts here but 520 views and counting :smoke:
 
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Here are a couple of Rocks Sands from the Commanders in late June. The left hand one is quite a dull bird, but has some similarities with the Svalbard bird. Purple Sands are also very variable in summer plumage, but I'm not sure I've seen one like this..

cheers, alan
 

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I'm another that's been watching the thread but cautious to comment because I have no experience.
Just to play Devil's advocate, I would have expected Rock Sandpiper to show more of a black belly patch (there's not much here, and I'm not sure how much is actually staining), and I'm struggling to find pictures that show a similar head pattern - most have an isolated cheek patch and pale around the eye and lores, whereas the posted bird shows dark lores and eyestripe connected to the cheek patch. It's also structurally different from the birds Alan has posted, especially the longer bill).

So I'd lean towards a pale Purple Sandpiper, but as I said I have no experience...
 
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