Hi Tweets

On my browser (an early Netcape), the bird in the top phot (phot 1) looks
like a brown, impossibly long-legged juv Least Sandpiper, C. minutilla, and
I wondered why an ID of Long-toed Stint, C. minuta, was disallowed. The
other phots (2-4) show a bill that could only be on a Semipalmated
Sandpiper, C. pusilla, a juv Western Sandpiper, C. mauri, Red-necked Stint,
C. ruficollis, or Little Stint.

Let's get to work. With those scaps, it's a juvenile. Plumage alone
eliminates Western Sandpiper but the bill-structure could conceivably be
that of a juv bird, particularly male Western; bill-structure and coloration
eliminates Long-toed Stint and Least Sandpipers; distinct face-pattern and
long legs eliminate Temminck's and Red-necked Stints. The only two left are
Semipalmated Sandpiper and Little Stint.

Believe it or not, a rufous- or intermediate-morph Semipalmated Sandpiper
and grey- to intermediate-morph Little Stint in juv plumages can be a real
ID headbanger, and only slightly less so including some juv Red-necked
Stints. Semipalmated can resemble both to a degree most birders would
consider impossible. Until...

Well, the bird has a Little Stint's dark 'mohawk' crown-ridge with distinct
lateral crown-stripes forming a split-supercilium head pattern. Though
Dennis P writes: "but has the fairly significant head field marks of a
Red-necked Stint.", I think he must have been thinking of Little Stint: what
Jonsson & Grant in their July 1984 British Birds article 'Identification of
stints and peeps', have to say about the description of juvenile Little
Stint head-pattern is very close to the mystery bird: "white supercilium and
well-marked fine, whitish *lateral crown-stripes usually give prominent
split-supercilium effect* and accentuate *dark 'ridge' in centre of crown*
(emphases theirs)" whereas their description of Red-necked Stint is
"supercilium dull, not strikingly white; crown uniformly streaked and
greyish, *crown typically lacking strong split-supercilium or 'ridge'
effects*; lores blackish (whole head pattern, therefore, inclined to be
rather plain, with blackish lore and white forehead-sides sometimes standing
out as the most prominent features--emphasis theirs)."

In the best views of its face and crown (phots 2 & 4), the bird lacks the
pre-ocular black loral swelling of Semipalmated Sandpiper which so
emphasises the white forehead on that species (partial albinism?), but also
lacks the Little's grey nape which contrasts with a dark crown; it has a
long-legged/small-bodied proportion common to both and in phot 4 *seems* to
have the long primary-extension of Little Stint, but the primary extension
beyond the longest tertial (best shown in phot 4) is definitely within the
range of Semipalmated. Characteristic of a grey- or intermediate-morph
Little or a rufous- or intermediate-morph Semipalmated, it has a subdued
white scapular 'V' (sometimes conspicuous on some Semipalmateds), but
because of the position of the bird in the phot series, any mantle 'V' that
might be present is obscured (pace Dennis et al, such a mantle 'V' is often
distinct also on a crisp rufous or intermediate Semipalmated as well as most
Little). The last lower scapular's pattern is ambiguous, but the next one
shows an anchor-shaped black center with white edging more typical of
Semipalmated Sandpiper than Little. The bill shape (straight upper, decurved
lower mandible) is typical of either species, but a close examination of
phot 1 shows a *very* slight distal swelling, typical of Semipalmated and
untypical of Little's finer tip; phots 2 & 4 shows an apparent swelling at
the bill-tip, but something about them makes me wonder whether it's an
adherent waterdrop. Too bad the toes aren't visible to look for webbing.
Some of the rufescent Semipalmated Sandpipers that blew in to Iona last week
looked pretty close to this bird, and webbing and lower scapular patterns
proved them to be Semipalmated Sandpipers.

>From a 'pers.comm' to Dennis last week: (begin quote) There were a bunch of
'rufous' Semis that had flown in that night or morning showing much the same
thing (some had crisp and conspicuous white mantle 'V's and rufous edgings
and fringing on upper scaps, others vague mantle 'V's), and *all* of them
had clean, conspicuous split superC's.... Some were shorter-legged, showing
significant primary extension, but all of them had discernible webbing
between the toes and dark auriculars...usually Semis are seemingly the
longest-legged birds on the pond....That they came in as a group suggests
more than just random southbound association. A race? A population? Just
extremely fresh juvs before wearing to the more conventional greys and
browns? If Westerns and Semis are so closely related, could the rufous-morph
birds be closer to the ancestral divide?

...While most [Semipalmated] here look like Clay-colored Sandpipers, they
share plumage characteristics with both Little (I showed a bright rufous
Semi juv complete with split superC, bright white mantle 'V', lots of rufous
edgings and fringes to a visiting Brit one day at Iona, and he was flattened
that some Semis could so closely resemble Little Stint except for the
webbing--which made my getting totally goofed up on the same ID problem the
week before a little easier to accept) and Red-necked...and in the many
years I've been looking at them, their [Semipalmated] leg color has been all
over the lot, from black to yellowish. I've even seen with some frequency a
pale lime shade of green that would not be out of place on a California
Gull. (end quote)

The pattern of streaking on the sides may be instructive. Each photograph
shows a diffuse spotting over a warm brownish or buffy wash. Grant & Jonsson
say about Little Stint: "*breast-side streaking confined to a few (typically
three to six) rather clearcut dark lines overlying orange-rufous wash* which
sometimes extends faintly across upper breast; at distance, gives effect of
*isolated dark-streaked patch on breast-sides. (emphases theirs)", and about
Semipalmated Sandpiper: "*breast-side streaking rather diffuse and
extensive,* overlying warm buff suffusion, which often extends across
breast. (emphasis theirs)" To me, the latter description seems more apt.

As for atypical leg-color, Semipalmated has the largest range of leg-colors
of all the small Calidridis shorebirds that pour through Iona, but I've seen
nothing on variation in Little Stint leg-color: you can have any color you
like as long as it's black.

So my vote's for a juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper that's toward the browner
end of the rufous-to-grey continuum, with a grey- or otherwise non-rufous
morph juv Little Stint running a fairly close second.

Michael Price The Sleep of Reason Gives Birth to Monsters
Vancouver BC Canada -Goya
mprice at mindlink.net