Subject: [Tweeters] After a little stint in BC,
Date: Sep 4 14:14:59 2014
From: Nathaniel Peters - ncpeters at uw.edu


Hey Tweets,

Tina Klein-Lebbinck and I had amazing looks at the juvenile Little Stint
today from 8:45-10:30AM. After a 330AM departure from Seattle, we took the
7AM ferry out of Tsawwassen, arrived at 835AM in Sidney, and were on the
bird within 10 minutes. It was hanging out with a mixed group of 30-40
Western Sandpipers, ~5 Least Sandpipers, and several Killdeer (the only
shorebirds present). We got amazing looks as the rising tide drove the
flock in towards the shore, at times within 50 ft. The flock was skittish,
following several Cooper's Hawk fly-overs, but would frequently circle back
to right in front of the floating wharf. We did not chase the flock, but
stayed on the path closest to the wharf and just waited for the birds to
come to us. Apparently the bird was seen on the wharf around 5pm
yesterday, following high tide.

The first thing we noticed about the Stint was it's more slender
(particularly neck and head), rustier (cap and outlined coverts), and
sharply contrasted appearance (white underside to rusty/black wings and
back), compared to the more dull Westerns. It also tended to hang out
more on the periphery of the flock. Despite it's daintier appearance, it
seemed to chase the Westerns as much as it was chased, and it seemed to
feed a little more frantically, and defecate quite frequently (I wasn't
exactly timing, but I also wasn't the only one who noticed...). At the
right angles and light, the prominent white back braces and split
supercilium were very distinctive (the right side split supercilium
seemed more subtle, while the left extended farther back onto side of
head). The split supercilium really made the overall supercilium look
angled, which also helped distinguish the bird. On the shoulder was an
isolated rusty/buffy blotch, with a very light buffy band around the
breast, and a white throat. The legs were also distinctly black.

I had the best luck relocating the bird after each flock flight by zooming
back, looking at the edges of the flock, and looking for the rustier,
contrasty, bird with the "angled" supercilium. This approach would
sometimes land me on a Least, but the yellow legs of the Least vs the black
legs of the Stint would quickly clear that up.

What a beautiful bird!!! Good luck, everyone!

Nathaniel Peters
Graduate student
ncpeters at uw.edu
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