Well, I saved the 4th image of our mystery stint and manipulated it
until the cows came home in my favorite image viewer/processor. No
matter how many times I zoomed it, filtered it, subtracted the color
from it, enhanced it, etc., etc., I kept coming back to the fact that
I have seen that profile before. The steep forehead with the deep
basal structure of the bill just screams Semipalmated Sandpiper to me,
and likely a female given the length and slight droop to the bill. The
dark-centered scaps also fit. However, the yellowish color to the legs
certainly don't jibe.

I give up. Is this our equivalent to the Cox's Sandpiper which
eventually was determined to be a Dunlin X Curlew Sandpiper? Is this a
Least X Semipalmated Sandpiper? Is there something in the water this
year which turns waders' legs yellow? I would have had to have let
this go as an unidentified peep if I had run into this myself (after
taking many photos and writing it up faithfully, of course).

- Jack

Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca