Hi Tweets,

Paul Duval writes:

>Excuse my ignorance, but what would that other candidate be?

While the bird was silent, Paul, Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularia and
Wandering Tattler Heteroscelus incanus were the two possibilities. Both
birds are, roughly speaking, about the same size and general
proportions--although the tattler is slightly more attenuated than the
Spotted; both fly with the same stiff-winged clustered wingbeat where the
wing normally doesn't rise above the horizontal; both teeter incessantly;
both prefer rocky jetties and shoreline-- the tattler as a rule, the Spotted
in migration and winter.

As they fledge and leave, there's Spottie juvs on the rocks of the Iona
South Jetty looking very juv-tattler-like at a distance, except it's far too
early for juv tattlers. The adult tattlers currently moving through should
still be in the conspicuously barred Definitive Alternate plumage, so
shouldn't be too much of an ID problem; good thing that the juv Spotties are
usually gone well before the juv tattlers arrive in late August.

A silent bird in dusk would be a very tough ID call between the two, one I'd
let go as sandpiper sp. in absence of any identifying marks or calls.

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery, and change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)