White-rumped Sandpiper? Lake Erie, ON (1 Viewer)

[Paul Tavares]

The scap shapes look wrong for Western - the lower and rear ones especially on Western sand are very elongated - like willow leaves. The mystery lacks them

Jane thanks for the extra effort. I'll leave it as unresolved for now although still leaning towards WR.

Thanks to everyone who responded. Time to let this thread expire.

Paul

 

[CanadianCodhead]

The white I saw went completely across the rump consistent with a White-rumped. I've re-attached 100% crops, exaggerated the sharpening and increased the HDR in the shadows. Another birder just reported seeing a possible Dunlin * White-rumped Sandpiper hybrid in the same location about three hours after I took this photo. Not sure if it is the same bird but could a hybrid explain some of the plumage differences?

Thanks again

Paul

For what it is worth - I am actually the other birder referred to above in Paul's post, I found this discussion (and one on a possible Portuguese hybrid) when researching what it is that was I had seen.

I'm confident this is not a Western Sandpiper, when I saw the bird it was near at least 1 Dunlin for comparison and the bird was clearly equivalent in size. One photo in the album linked to below shows the bird with a Dunlin.

Western Sandpiper are not unheard of in Ontario, but they are really rare - typically 1 a year may be confirmed in the province.

In my case in trying to ID the bird I sent the pics around to several authorities, including one who co-wrote an article on WRS * Dunlin hybrid and served multiple terms on our provincial birds record committee.

His ID was of WRS * Dunlin, and of the 10 or so individuals who have also reviewed the photos, none has suggested that ID is incorrect (of course it may be simple Canadian politeness in not commenting back to me).

I captured over 20 pics of the bird which can be seen in this album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/115140218854203118518/6287518995135497233?authuser=0&feat=directlink

 

[Jane Turner]

The size and the lack of palmations https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...ulmsk-BAiKIopfd2rgCCo/s800/dsc_6641_Small.JPG is a final nail in the coffin of WRS ID.

Your photos also show it with an even less WRS like build too -

 

[Peter C.]

Umm... don't understand what Jane is getting at in #23. Western has palmations, and WRSA doesn't. So, final nail in the coffin of the Western ID.

Can back up others above, in saying that Western is really hard to come by in Ontario, although may well be often overlooked.

Weird bird, though - short wings, too-long bill for WRSA. Plumage not right for anything I know of. I recuse.

 

[Jane Turner]

The lack of palmations in that photo is further proof that its not a Western was what I was saying. Ah but I see I managed a typo!

 

[CanadianCodhead]

Just a final follow-up on this bird. Firstly, I am confident the bird Paul photographed and the one I did are the same individual, the odds of two oddly plumaged peeps on the same beach separated by a few hours are not worth considering.

I submitted it to Ebird as a White-rumped Sandpiper * Dunlin. I found out today the bird was validated and accepted as that hybrid. The Ebird reviewer for the county in which I found it also happens to be on the staff of Bird Studies Canada, so presumably they know their well I will use stuff as my s-word.

It is the 3rd one ever documented in Ontario - one from Hillman Marsh in 1994, one from the same location I found this in 2009 (additionally a 4th is claimed from SW Ontario, but as far as I can tell no pics were ever taken). Additionally 1 has been documented in each of Maryland, Wisconsin, Nova Scotia, Florida and Texas as well as a couple from Massachusetts, Delaware and New York. Basically maybe a dozen have ever been documented, although it is very likely there are other records I could not find online.

If interested, in going through my photos from that day I found I had even better quality ones which I added to my album here (they are the final photos in the album starting at photo #21 in the album) :

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...7yInSeSJqO8Mj1FCrJd3FKTWl0/edit#gid=324796220