Hi All,

My apologies for the tardiness of this e-mail however I have been reluctant
to post anything due to the complicated nature of the ID and I have been
waiting to hear back from some more experienced birders.

At 8:45am on Monday (8/8) I was birding with my mom who was visiting from
Wisconsin and found a potential Temminck's Stint at the base of Damon Point
in Ocean Shores. The bird was foraging completely by itself less than a
quarter mile west (right) of the pilings at the base of the point. It
caught our attention because it seemed to have a horizontal posture and long
shape despite having the plumage of a Least Sandpiper molting into
nonbreeding plumage. After further inspection we noticed it had very
obvious white outer tail feathers. Unfortunately it was silent the entire
time we watched it and we never got to see it fly but it was still present
when we left. There were many peeps present in the Oyhut Wildlife Area and
perhaps it is still in the area. To my knowledge Temminck's are rather
solitary in nature. Regardless, hopefully it can be relocated.

A few experts have taken a look at the pictures I have taken and the jury is
still out. Some believe it is a Least due to the face pattern and body
shape and others a Temminck's based on the mantle, bill and white outer tail
feathers. Any thoughts on the ID would be greatly appreciated and can be
directly e-mailed to me or sent to the entire Tweeters group if folks think
it would beneficial to have an open discussion.

Pictures can be found at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66227382 at N06/

Cheers and good birding,
Brian Uher-Koch
Vancouver, BC

Below is my initial write-up concerning the individual:
Yellow legs, not greenish at all. Fine streaking on grayish breast. Slight
buffy patch behind eye. Faint white supercilium. White, prominent eye-ring.
Lightly streaked tan/buff crown. Black central vein with some buff or gray
(some feathers buff edged, some gray) edging on scapulars, median and
greater coverts. Scapulars slightly more buff, coverts more gray. Dark
tertials edged in buff. Clean, white belly and undertail coverts. Long
primary projection at least to the tip of the tail. White outer tail
feathers with dark central stripe. Some tail feathers tipped with slight
buff. Appeared to give horizontal, crouching posture. It was foraging
completely by itself as we did not see any other shorebirds on the entire
beach. Initially it was foraging in the sand about 15-20 feet from the
water's edge and then went and foraged within 5 feet or so of the water. I
would guess a worn postbreeding adult individual.
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