Waders, Scotland. (1 Viewer)

[punkskaphil]

Hi all, I've just returned from a birding tour in Scotland where we were taken to Udale Bay on the Cromarty Firth for the waders. It was mostly Redshank, Dunlin and Knot on the mud.

Looking through my photos I've noticed a few small waders I'm not 100% sure of, and would like your confirmation/suggestions please. I'm usually more experienced with winter-plumage waders. I know that the adult summer Dunlin has a black belly patch, but I was wondering if a few of these were younger birds without the patch. I hadn't actually noticed them in the frame at the time (these are heavy crops) so didn't ask our tour guide.

Aside from the obvious Redshanks:

1) Is this a Knot on the left and a Dunlin on the right?
2) & 3) Knot? I initially considered Sanderling, but it looks too big to me for that.
4) Dunlin?
5) Dunlin?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

All the birds you're asking about are Dunlin.

 

[punkskaphil]

All the birds you're asking about are Dunlin.

Thank you. I was considering a reasonable difference in size between the two birds in the first photo, but perhaps it's just a trick of perspective.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

Dunlin generally can show quite some variability in size (and also in Bill length) , depending on origin, sex , age ;
but Knot is substantially larger