August
2007 Mystery Bird Solution
Don’t
ya just love waders? When confronted with a wader there are three things to
check for. What size is it? Is it large like a Godwit, medium sized like a
Redshank or small like a Dunlin? The problem is that when the bird is on its
own, it can be hard to tell but the structure of this bird is enough to suggest
it’s one of the smaller waders. The next thing to check is the leg colour. Of
course this is what makes this image perfect for a good mystery bird…you
can’t see the leg colour. When it walks out from behind that rock you would
see it has black legs. Finally what is the bill like…is it short, long,
straight or curved? This bird has a bill that is longish and quite straight…so
it’s not a Curlew Sandpiper!
The
commonest bird of the small group is Dunlin. Is it a Dunlin? Well, the
underparts seem very clean and with such rufous colours on the back this bird is
most likely in summer plumage. Remember, in summer, Dunlin has a black belly
patch (see the id piece on Dunlin v Curlew Sandpiper). As well as that, Dunlin
usually show a decurved bill whereas this bird has a straight bill.
So
what is it? Many of you guessed Little Stint which is excellent. Little Stint is
one of the few waders that show white underparts and rufous around the face when
in summer plumage. However (there is always a 'however' isn't there?), they are
not the only ones to show these features. Sanderling in summer plumage also have
rufous faces and white underparts. So which is it? To me Little Stints have a
short, thinner based bill...it’s neater on the face. Sanderling have a long,
thicker-based bill. This bill is quite long and deep at the base on this
bird....a good feature of Sanderling. The excellent shot of a summer
Little Stint by Seán Cronin shows the thinner base to the bill and how, by
comparison to that of Sanderling, the bill of Little Stint is considerably
shorter.
Little
Stint, Photo Sean Cronin
What
about the plumage? In summer both show chestnut upperparts but look at the
pattern of the feathers. Sanderling have a 'tiger-striped' look with
black-orange-black on the inside of many upperpart feathers. Little Stint tend
to have black centres to the feathers with rufous edges. The pattern isn't
as striking. Again Seán’s excellent image of Little Stint shows this pattern
very well. Without getting a size
comparison both are difficult to id but bill length and structure as well as
upperpart patterns are good features to check.
When
seen alongside a Dunlin, Sanderling is as big, and most often slightly bigger
than, a Dunlin. Little Stint is considerably smaller than Dunlin and looks quite
petite by comparison. So all of this leads to the fact that our mystery
bird is in fact a Sanderling in summer plumage (give or take one or two
old winter feathers) which I photographed in Kerry in June. While we usually
associate Sanderling as being small grey and white birds found on the beach,
when on migration many birds will associate with Dunlin well away from beaches.
A lone Sanderling can throw even the most experienced of us and, a lone,
summer-plumaged bird can be even more confusing. The other Sanderling shot is of
a moulting bird photographed with Dunlin in Wexford in August this year. It
gives a good idea of size and structure when compared with Dunlin.
As
I said at the beginning…don’t ya just love waders?
Eric
Dempsey
Many thanks to Seán Cronin for allowing Tolka to use his Little Stint image from August 2005.