Bairds sandpiper help (1 Viewer)

Whilst in Norfolk Yesterday (18-Mar 2003) I bumped into 3 men who were pretty sure they had just found an american sandpiper, upon flicking through my book, they decided it was a Bairds, They appeared to be pretty good birders and had obviously gotten quite close to the bird (they had seen colouration on the scapulars etc.). I followed thier directions and found myself about a mile away from the boardwalk on the beach at the reserve, alone and with some very distant birds. Now I managed to find what I felt was a good candidate, smaller than surrounding sanderling, short dark legs and bill, quite stocky in appearance, appeared to have a partial band on the breast, my only problem was the bird was about 1/2 as far from me again. (as far as I am aware I was the 4th and final person to see the sandpiper)

My question is, is there anyone out there who knows a wa of confirming Bairds sand over such distances?

I do not doubt what the 3 gentlemen had seen, I am trying to confirm my own siteing (Its kept me up all night)

Sounds a good candidate Ashley, especially if you had Sanderling to compare it to - (a notorious confusion species for those of us in Britain) At such a distance the best ID feature would be primary projection. The wing tip should extend beyond the tail. This is also the case with White-rumped Sandpiper, but if the bird had a breast band, ( and clean flanks) rather than a streaky breast extending onto the flanks you've got a Baird's.

Darrell

Problem was, with the heat haze I couldn't be too clear on flank streaking, or primary projection. Overall jizz would say to me Bairds but having only seen a couple (and well, in good light) I am unsure what to be looking for in poor conditions, if only the birds would come closer to me.

to me, the Baird's are the most "buff" colored of the peeps in North America. The are shaped very similarly to white-rumped, i.e. long-winged, short/stocky. The buffy color really stands out.

Seems to me there is a healthy dose of wishful thinking here. If it was me (and I know you are not!), I would want to be much closer and get much better views before even giving it the benefit of any discussion. The balance of probabilities must be on the side of it not being a Baird's to begin with (experience and ability of the original observers aside). Has there ever been a Baird's Sand in England in March before? Still, wish I had been there to check it out!

There has been at least one other in March - One overwintered in Surrey at Staines reservoir between Oct 1982 and Apr 1983

Bairds sandpipers are only rare autumn vagrants in Norfolk
The only spring record comes from 1983 when one visited the reserve between 13th & 18th May.

I suggest those people were wrong & they were looking at a Sanderling.

don't be fooled by people who have all the gear, They may look experienced but may be very good stringers.

CJ

Colin a bit late coming back to this, but I saw the presumed bird and it was not a sanderling, I had direct comparisons with sanderling and the size and overall appearance was different.

I have no problem with it being a small sandpiper, but my experiences with Bairds have been very good views, so I was after opinion from people with more experience of this bird (there are a lot of Americans on here who will be used to telling sandpipers at distance) at difficult distances.

The fact that it would be the earliest record for Bairds (I think in the UK, but by the sounds of it in Norfolk for sure) does not mean that it isn't one, arrival dates change for birds sometimes early sometimes late, if this bird were accepted it would most likely have been a bird that overwintered in Europe and was migrating back.

I have not counted the bird personally on my year list as I was too distant, but that does not mean I discount it altogether.