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Sandpiper/stinty-thing, Sydney. (1 Viewer)

colonelboris

Right way up again
Found a wader at the waterbird refuge in Bicentennial / Olympic Park and it's thrown me quite a bit. Unfortunately, it didn't hang around long enough for me to even attempt digiscoping it (just as well as I'd forgotten my camera for that bit), but I did get some notes. I've attached them , but in case you can't read the writing...
It was about 17-20 cm long; black, straight beak, a bit longer than the head was wide behind it. The top and back of the head and the back of the neck had a orange-buff colour with darker streaks and there was a white supercillium (but only one). There was an eye ring, which merged into the supercillium over the top of the eye and the eye was black. The cheeks were greyish-buff colour and there was a clean white throat. Below that, there were neat spots on the breast and faint buff tinge to the surrounding feathers. The underparts were clean white with some spotting on the flanks and down towards the underside of the tail. The legs were definitely black. Carrying on down, the tail was white underneath with a black tip and was long. The primaries were also long and fairly dark. The wings had feathers with dark brown centres with light buff edges and where the wings meet the breast, there were some large, diffuse spots.
The beak was very straight, so I felt happy to rule out Curlew Sandpiper and Broad-billed Sandpiper and the size and shape weren't really very stint-like. I could rule out Pectoral Sandpiper and Sharp-tailed sandpiper on the leg colour, which even given a mistake in the size, also rules out Long-toed Stint. The behaviour was also not like a Sanderling in that it walked slowly and didn't dart about much. The bird also appeared to be alone.
So, sketchy notes and a sketchy description for you. Any ideas?
Cheers,

Tony
 

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Despite having reservations about certain features, size etc mentioned in your notes, my initial impression from your sketch was Great Knot , have a look through these - http://orientalbirdimages.org/birdi...ID=1234&Bird_Image_ID=1001&Bird_Family_ID=138
I'm inclined to agree. The large spotting on the breast is a great ID feature. some birds are very dark on the underside at the mo', though that will fade as Summer sets in. Otherwise a misIDed Sharpie (though you seem convinced that that can be ruled out...)
 
Despite having reservations about certain features, size etc mentioned in your notes, my initial impression from your sketch was Great Knot , have a look through these - http://orientalbirdimages.org/birdi...ID=1234&Bird_Image_ID=1001&Bird_Family_ID=138

Overall, the bird appeared a bit darker than that and also the supercillium was quite prominent. I estimated the size against a Black-winged Stilt - the book reckons they're 33-37 cm and the bird I was looking at was about half the length. Looking at the illustrations in Simpson and Day, it looked very much like a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, but with definite black legs. However, that worries me as that then starts looking like birds with descriptions like 'only seen six times in Australia' and 'no accepted records'. Having been here only three weeks, I'm not brave enough to go for that yet...
 
Overall, the bird appeared a bit darker than that and also the supercillium was quite prominent. I estimated the size against a Black-winged Stilt - the book reckons they're 33-37 cm and the bird I was looking at was about half the length. Looking at the illustrations in Simpson and Day, it looked very much like a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, but with definite black legs. However, that worries me as that then starts looking like birds with descriptions like 'only seen six times in Australia' and 'no accepted records'. Having been here only three weeks, I'm not brave enough to go for that yet...
FTR, Sharpies often show a distinctly rufous 'cap' rather like your bird. On the other hand, Great Knots can be much darker underneath than the illustrations show. One of those two I reckon.
 
I went for another look for it today, but no luck. As far as I could see, the legs looked clean and the water is very clear as well as the sediment being sandy. Also, none of the stilts or Bar-tailed Godwits appeared to hav mud on them.
The troubles I go to for you lot... ;)

Ah well, likely to be in the 'unknown' bin for me on that one. Have to improve on my note-taking.
Thanks anyway!
 
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