Hi Tweets,

I was just told about the Long-toed Stint message from Ocean Shores and
the query for further information about it on tweeters. Ruth showed me
her excellent slides of the bird, and it's not a Long-toed Stint. What
it is remains a mystery at present. It is a black-legged stint with
quite yellow legs. It has a long primary projection, white breast, and
no rufous above, which immediately eliminates Long-toed Stint and Least
Sandpipers. It's nothing like a Temminck's Stint. It looks most like a
Semipalmated Sandpiper, with a Semipalmated bill, but has the fairly
significant head field marks of a Red-necked Stint. Ruth, if you read
this, if you bring the photos back to me I'll scan one or more of them
for the web, so everyone can see them. This may turn out to be a
beautiful, detailed photograph that is unidentifiable!

It has essentially no field marks at all of the Long-toed Stint, except
its long, yellow legs! Stumped by a strange stint.....

Dennis Paulson