Good evening birders, This afternoon we received a tip from David Prior regarding a bird discovered subsequent to Garth Riley’s post. David had mention that this particular bird looked good for a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper but it had disappeared in them before they could study it further. Given the fact there was a Western Sandpiper, a possible Curlew Sandpiper and this bird in the area we decided to go down and take a look. Shortly after arriving I spotted this particular shorebird feeding with Dunlin and some other mixed shorebirds. It essentially looked like a Pectoral Sandpiper but here are some details/ features we noted on the bird:
* The first thing that caught my attention was that the bird appeared brighter overall, very fresh looking showing more rufous tones in the edging of the flight feather and coverts. * The cap seemed very bright, rufous in colour. * The breast was very buffy with very little streaking up higher on the chest and some in the undertail coverts. This bird did not have a densely streaked breast with an abrupt border as expected from a PESA. * It had a bold supercillium, and what appeared to be an eye-ring. * The structure was similar to a PESA but it was slightly smaller, less robust looking and a really short bill which really stood out compared to the PESA in the area. I watched this bird at close range for a few minutes before Erika Hentsch, Barb Charlton and Rich Poort got to the location where I was looking from. They got on to the bird for a brief period of time before it disappeared behind some phrag. We did not see this bird again as a Northern Harrier flew by and scattered the shorebirds throughout the area, however I suspect this bird could still be there tomorrow and encourage others to look for it. This bird appears to show more features leaning towards a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper rather than a Pectoral Sandpiper. I realize that this is a difficult species to ID but we feel it’s important to get the word out in hope other can observe this bird! On another note the Western Sandpiper was showing well, offering great views. There was a good vaiety of shorebirds around including Dunlin, Pectoral Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, White-rumped Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Stilt Sandpiper, Wilson’s Snipe, both Yellowlegs and Killdeer. There were also 100+ Rusty Blackbirds foraging on the mudflats which was fun to watch. Good luck birders if you go for this bird. Directions: these flats are east of Maitland on the south side of Feeder Canal Rd. Look for an opening in the brush and walk down to the fence. The birds were moving around a lot. Cheers, Brett Fried Cambridge, ON Sent from my iPhone _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
