OBOLinks,

November 28th is indeed a late date for Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in
our area. For comparison, here are some departure dates for British
Columbia.
There is a single winter record of Sharp-tailed Sandpiper for
B.C.: two birds collected on December 27, 1897 at Masset in the Queen
Charlotte Islands, and currently in the Royal B.C. Museum, Victoria.
This record is cited by both Campbell et al. (The Birds of B.C.,
Volume 2, 1990) and Godfrey (The Birds of Canada, 1986).
Other than this December record, the latest record for B.C. is of
2 birds on November 17, 1983, also at Masset.
In the Vancouver area, where the species is a rare but regular
fall migrant, we have departure dates on record for at least 20 years
from 1968 through 1993. The average departure date is October 19; the
earliest, October 2; and the latest, November 10 (1971).
Sharp-tailed Sandpipers are most often seen in company with
Pectoral Sandpipers. Even for Pectoral Sandpiper, the latest date for
Vancouver is November 23.
The description by Mary and Eric Palm of a Sharp-tailed at
Ridgefield NWR on Nov. 28 sounds pretty convincing. Good spotting!

Wayne C. Weber
114-525 Dalgleish Drive
Kamloops, B.C. V2C 6E4
Phone: (250) 377-8865
wayne_weber at bc.sympatico.ca


-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Contreras <acontrer at POND.NET>
To: Multiple recipients of list OBOL <OBOL at BOBO.NWS.ORST.EDU>
Date: Tuesday, November 30, 1999 3:25 PM
Subject: Recent Sharp-tail at Ridgefield


>I asked Mary and Eric Palm for more info on the Sharp-tail - I was
>suspicious of a dyed Dunlin. Sounds like it was the real thing. I
added
>the description to the original message FYI. Is this latest record
for
>Washington?
>
>Received: 11/28/99 7:21 PM
>From: Mary and Eric Palm, dpalm at sprintmail.com
>
>Today we saw what we have identified as a juvenile sharp-tailed
>sandpiper at Swartz Lake at Ridgefield NWR (River "S" Unit) with a
large
>flock of dunlin. Hopefully someone else will confirm the sighting.
We
>also counted 17 black-bellied plovers at Swartz Lake.
>
>Alan:
> The bird we saw had a shorter, straighter bill than the dunlins,
>and it had yellow legs. It also had a very noticeable rufous cap, as
>well as rufous on its back feathers, and a very pretty buffy breast
with
>a white belly. The white eyebrow was also very distinct, and seemed
to
>be wider behind the eye, as the field guide indicated. We knew it
was
>not a dunlin, and decided it could not be a pectoral sandpiper
beacuse
>its breast was unstreaked and the rufous so pronounced. We did not
hear
>it call.
>
>Mary and Eric Palm
>
>
>Alan Contreras * Eugene, Oregon
>home e-mail: acontrer at pond.net
>