The recent findings of at least two Sharp-tailed Sandpipers in the inland Northwest and Jon Isacoff's excellent finding and photos have got me sorting thru all the Pectorals in search of the Sharp-tailed oddity.

Just before Jon's bird, I had seen a bunch/flock of fifteen Pectorals that contained two very bright individuals, since Idaho has only two confirmed records of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers (none by me), I automatically wrote them off as very bright juvenile Pectorals.
Now that I'm thinking Sharp-tailed, I'm finding all kinds of different looking Pectorals.
Here is an example of one seen this morning at Mann Lake.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/birddog/8007453037/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/birddog/8007460985/in/photostream

The bird on the right is the same as the earlier photo. Presumably, both are very bright juvenile Pectoral Sandpipers.
They were in a group of eight Pectorals, the other six were noticeably less bright.

These differences in individual birds make Fall shorebird migration so interesting.

Keith E. Carlson
Lewiston