Basically, I agree with Killian that it's very likely a Little Stint.
As much as I like definitive field marks rather than "jizz," that's
the impression I get when I first look at it. However, I may be a
little more conservative, as he says especially because the images,
good as they are, could be better for this very important call.

However, if you'd like to see a Red-necked Stint with vividly marked
coverts, take a look at this photo from Japan:
http://homepage2.nifty.com/stints/calidris/redneck-asA.html.

If you want to see a Red-necked Stint with fine dark streaks on the
side of the breast as well as brightly marked coverts, look at
http://homepage2.nifty.com/stints/calidris/redneck-asGH.html.

Certainly conspicuous scapular stripes are very rare in Red-necked Stints.

Kudos to Bill and Nancy and whoever else started questioning the
early identification of this bird. I don't suppose there are any
better (closer) photos of it out there? Not that those taken by Tom
Munson aren't extremely helpful. But a really good look at the
tertials would be important, and they're somewhat obscure in most of
the photos.

We need a massive banding effort, in which all stints in the world
are tagged with species-specific color bands.

Dennis

>Hi all stint watchers,
>
>Here's the latest from Killian, from over the pond on the identification of
>the Yakima River delta shorebird (aka wader or stint).
>
>Andy Stepniewski

--
Dennis Paulson, Director phone 253-879-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 253-879-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
1500 N. Warner, #1088
Tacoma, WA 98416-1088
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html