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.