Subject: [Tweeters] Edmonds Mystery Sandpiper 8-13-2010
Date: Oct 19 01:02:10 2017
From: Bill Anderson - billandersonbic at yahoo.com


No, the date is not a typo. I have been going through old photos stored on hard drives and deleting ones that are bad or repetitive. I came across photos of a lone shorebird that I took on 8-13-10 at Shell Creek Spit in Edmonds. The spit can be seen during low tide by looking north up the shoreline from Sunset Ave. or Brackett's Landing. Birds use the spit as a source of fresh water for drinking and bathing.

At first glance the bird looks like a dunlin, but its body seems taller and thinner and its legs seem longer. It also appears to be a lighter color than dunlin that I have photographed in Edmonds, especially in the breast and neck. I wonder if it could be a curlew sandpiper, a native to the Siberian Arctic that closely resemble dunlin. According to the the Audubon Guide to North American Birds, a few curlew sandpipers turn up on the Atlantic Coast every year, but it is only a rare visitor to the rest of North America.
http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/b...rlew-sandpiper

There have been reports in Tweeters of sightings of curlew sandpipers in Washington. I would like to hear the opinions of Tweetsters as to whether this is a curlew sandpiper, just another dunlin, or some other bird.? My photos can be seen here:http://www.pnwphotos.com/forum/showthread.php?15971-Mystery-Sandpiper-8-13-2010

Bill Anderson; Edmonds, WA. USA