Greenshank or Wood Sandpiper? Just outside Paris, FR -- 1 May 2023 (1 Viewer)

[pjacobs]

I saw two greenshanks while out a flooded gravel pit just outside Paris last week. This third tringa was a bit further off, and seemed to have a much whiter lore and supercilium. Is this a Wood Sandpiper?

Cheers,
Peter

 

[Butty]

Greenshank. Note long legs, long bill and lack of upperpart spotting. It has a dark loral line; what you're calling the lore is the forward part of the supercilium.

 

[Joe H]

I initially put in a vote for Wood, based largely on the white markings on the face. Examples in first picture below of adult, non-breeding Wood from Ebird and Shorebirds, an ID Guide by Hayman et al.

Edit: I hate to be wishy-washy, but I looked up Greenshank and Wood SP in a European field guide and noticed that Greenshank is often drawn with a rather uneven demarcation between the brown uppers and white lowers. I looked on-line and sure enough, it's a trait often captured in photographs. The bottom of the wing-line of the mystery bird definitely looks more Greenshank-like than Wood. I hope my attempt to help didn't further confuse.

 

[Butty]

I'll give you that 👍🏻

 

[THE_FERN]

I agree this photo make id more difficult than it should be. We agree it's a greenshank.

Further points in favour are: bill shape (if you can decipher it), [especially] fact the supercilum is nearly non-existent behind the eye, the length of the blackish lores (much longer than wood sand), general shape (elongated, with legs apparently mid-way---favouring greenshank) and lack of clear strong patterning on the mantle (but photo quality means that would probably be difficult to discern)

 

[Butty]

We agree it's a greenshank.

Umm... We don't.

 

[pjacobs]

I initially put in a vote for Wood, based largely on the white markings on the face. Examples in first picture below of adult, non-breeding Wood from Ebird and Shorebirds, an ID Guide by Hayman et al.

Edit: I hate to be wishy-washy, but I looked up Greenshank and Wood SP in a European field guide and noticed that Greenshank is often drawn with a rather uneven demarcation between the brown uppers and white lowers. I looked on-line and sure enough, it's a trait often captured in photographs. The bottom of the wing-line of the mystery bird definitely looks more Greenshank-like than Wood. I hope my attempt to help didn't further confuse.

Good catch. Thanks for the insights Joe, and the visuals, I found them helpful not confusing.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I feel comfortable calling this a greenshank. My initial thought looking through my bins was a greenshank. And despite the somewhat confusing facial markings, I keep going back to the the bill, it's too long for a wood sandpiper (As Butty and The_Fern mentioned).

Also, thanks Butty for pointing out my misplacement of the lore.