Sounds like a winter-plumage surfbird.

Jim McCoy
jfmccoy at earthlink.net
Redmond, WA



-----Original Message-----
From: Brent Beach [mailto:ub359 at victoria.tc.ca]
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2000 10:19 AM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Moclips birding


Monday, Sep 11, evening.

We are travelling by bicycle from Victoria to San Francisco and ended up on
Monday night at a motel south of Moclips (right on the coast near the north
end of Highway 105).

Aside from one mystery shorebird, there were hundreds (probably
thousands)of Sanderling, perhaps 100 Western and 10 Least Sandpipers, 6
Semipalmated Plovers, 2 American Pipits, along with one Osprey, 3 Turkey
Vultures, 20 Brown Pelicans, and California, Glaucous-winged, and Heerman's
gulls. Cormorants and scoters flying by, but too far out to ID much else.

The one shorebird was: 30% larger in all dimensions than the Sanderlings
all around it, perhaps twice total volume, dark brown above and on the
throat and chest (comparable to the area of black on a black turnstone),
light tan below, yellow legs, dark bill about the size of a plover bill but
perhaps a little thinner. When it flew, the white on the wing was about as
pronounced as that on a black turnstone. It had a white rump with a dark
terminal band. When it flew it headed out to sea with steady powerful
flight, fairly direct flight with few direction changes. It looked too
short necked for a larger plover.

Because we are cycling I did not bring along my bird books! The motel, in
spite of being called Sandpiper, has no bird books in the gift store.

Any ideas?

Brent