Tweeters,
As many of you know by now there was a Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper at Bottle
Beach Saturday evening at high tide. I was birding with visiting Colorado
birders Doug Faulkner, Larry Semo, and Bill Schmoker at the time. The bird
was seen very well from 4:30 to 6:30 PM; Bill Schmoker obtained some killer
photos. (isn't digital photography an amazing development in instant
gratification?) He indicated that he would post a few to Surfbirds after
returning home. At 6:30 we left the bird feeding along the strand line. As
far as I know the bird was not seen Sunday, though several of us tried near
high tide after Sunday's pelagic trip. If your interested in a little more
detail, read on.

After the weathered out pelagic trip, I birded the area from Tokeland to
Johns River. Missing many of the good birds that had been sighted recently
and generally feeling it was a rather slow day with overall low numbers. By
the time I hit Bottle Beach at mid day a large thunderstorm was developing
to the north. I sat a while and talked with Connie Sidles who had been
birding the area. She mentioned a very intriguing shorebird that was
possibly a Curlew Sandpiper. As it was pretty quiet and the T-storm cell
was building and looking very impressive, I chose to head to Johns River and
sit it out. As the storm subsided somewhat I joined Doug, Larry, Bill who I
had met earlier on the boat and had been bumping into at other spots through
the day. We birded Johns River (uneventful) and decided to move onto Bottle
Beach for the high tide. (We also encountered a flock of Sandhill Cranes
soaring high at the trailing edges of the storm).

A few details on the Curlew Sandpiper are as follows: The bird was hanging
out with a group of 20 Semipalmated Plover and a single Western Sandpiper.
It was first picked out along the strand line at about 500 feet or more, and
stood out as clearly different and interesting. The flock quickly took
flight and made numerous passes, some quite close. At times it looked like
they would re-settle, at other times it looked like they were headed for the
horizon. At what seemed like too long the birds landed up the beach (north)
~ mile or so. During flight the bird was easy to pick out, large
(slightly larger than Semi Plovers) and pale, with a long bill and bold
white rump and obvious white wing stripes. The birds settled in and
variously roosted in the dry sand and fed along the high tide line. We
moved to within perhaps 250 to 300 feet and began taking detailed notes. As
time wore on the birds became more active and fed down the beach toward us.
We moved up into the grass, and eventually the birds moved to within about
50 feet of us. Amazing scope views were had, and numerous quality photos
were obtained. A detailed description will be submitted to the records
committee.

At distances of 500 feet or more the bird appears as a fairly large and
chunky caldrid (much larger than a Western, slightly larger than Semi
Plover) and rather plain. Overall coloration is medium to light brownish or
brownish gray with white underparts. A pale supercillum and faint buffy
wash at the sides of the neck were evident at this distance. The bill at
this distance looked long, thin and pretty straight. At 300 feet or so the
bird clearly has a scaled appearance; the result of medium brown centered
coverts and scapulars with a thin dark (blackish) subterminal band, and thin
buffy to whitish feather edges. Tertials also were basically solid brownish
with fine pale edges. Wings were fairly long with an estimated 2-3
primaries extending beyond the tail tip. Mantle and central crown appeared
darker brown than adjacent feathers. The bill was fairly thin and slightly
decurved throughout, the tip being quite thin (overall I thought thinner
than a dunlins bill). Legs were black or blackish.

At the close range the feathers had quite a bit of intricate detail. The
black subterminal marks in the lesser wing coverts approached anchor shape,
while the greater wing coverts were more uniform and broadly edged pale. At
times the pale edging appeared buffy, at other times distinctly whitish.
Thanks to Brad Waggoner for passing the news on from the bird box to
tweeters, and thanks of course to Connie.

Cheers and good birding
Bill Shelmerdine, Olympia WA
Mailto: georn1 at hotmail.com

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE!
http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/