[obol] Re: RBA: Long-toed Stint at Nehalem Sewage Ponds
- From: David Bailey <davidcbaileyoregon@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Jeff Gilligan <jeffgilligan10@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 21:44:03 -0700
This is a good cautionary Jeff. I believe that the size dimorphism is the
opposite of what you stated though, and the opposite of the majority of the
those in the sandpiper family (*SCOLOPACIDAE*). The male is the larger sex,
the female Pectoral is the smaller.
On Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 9:22 PM, Jeff Gilligan <jeffgilligan10@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
>
> For anyone looking for this bird, I offer a note of caution. Male
> Pectoral Sandpipers are much smaller than females. Pectoral Sandpipers
> have a pale base to the lower mandible, as do many Long-toed Stints.
> While a Long-toed Stint is larger than a Least Sandpiper, it isn't so by
> much. I have seen Leasts near a Long-toed once (the photographed bird from
> Clatsop County) and I could easily see a size difference. I am not sure
> that the Long-toed Stints I have seen in Asia looked larger than a Least
> with no Least present.
>
> Long-toed Stints and Pectoral Sandpipers can be confused. I very
> traveled, experienced and intelligent birder from Belfast who I knew (he
> has deceased) once put out an alert for Long-toed Stint from Northern
> Ireland, but the bird turned out to be a male Pectoral - a much more
> expected vagrant there.
>
> Jeff Gilligan
>
>
> On Jul 23, 2014, at 10:52 AM, David Bailey <davidcbaileyoregon@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
> > Wednesday 23 July 2014
> > Tillamook County, Oregon
> > Nehalem Sewage Ponds
> > NE pond along the North rock-edged shore
> >
> > In the company of adult Pectoral Sandpipers (three) and in direct
> comparison to at least one that was less than a foot away was a
> dull-yellow-legged Calidrid in adult plumage with a very obvious pale base
> to the bill, a strikingly (given how many Least Sandpipers on which I have
> looked for this trait over the years) obvious dark cap that seamlessly met
> the upper mandible, pale whitish supercillium widening behind the eye,
> obvious white eye-ring, coverts and tertials collectively making a paler
> panel of plumage compared to the darker scapulars and mantle, and to top it
> all off the bird had that upright and long-necked stance that, of course
> Least perform when startled or alert (and frequently enough that it is not
> a diagnostic field mark), but this bird kept this stance throughout and
> looked pretty odd for doing so, very much more like a Sharp-tailed or
> Pectoral Sandpiper than a Least. Perhaps because of this, or other
> structural nuances, the stint appeared to be about 2/3 the size of the
> adjacent Pectoral Sandpiper--giving the impression of being more the size
> of a Western Sandpiper than a Least. The plumage of the bird was overall
> worn and not showing much color, though I was viewing it under overcast
> skies and through light rain. The birds flew off and all I heard were the
> obvious calls of Pectoral Sandpipers and perhaps a call from the peep, but
> I heard no sounds typical of Least Sandpiper. I did not see the toes well
> enough on the standing bird (due to my viewing angle) or in flight to
> assess their relative lengths. The Tarsus did appear long on the standing
> bird and probably contributed to the impression that the bird was much
> larger than a typical Least Sandpiper.
> >
> > To be sure, I am not trying to start any sort of Asian stint fever, and
> were my observations in sum to come to me as a member of the Oregon Birds
> Records Committee, of which I am a former member, I would vote to not
> accept this record due to the fact that all these field marks are
> supportive and subtle with nothing solid to hang my hat on so to speak. I
> made a personal promise to myself long ago to be sure to avoid being
> stringy when it comes to identification, especially when it came to small
> sandpipers in the genus Calidris, and especially so with Long-toed Stint, I
> can say without hesitation that the peep/stint I saw this morning at the
> Nehalem Sewage Ponds so stood out given the marks I have listed that I feel
> it warrants an RBA on the chance that others can get out there today or
> tomorrow to photo-document this potential (and I saw that with emphasis
> again, "potential") mega-rarity for our region. At the risk of being
> redundant let me restate that Long-toed stint makes for an exceedingly
> difficult identification and that the bird of interest I saw today was in
> worn adult plumage.
> >
> > I think it likely that the bird may be hanging around the ponds as the
> three PECTORAL SANDPIPERS are staging there assuming that they are the same
> adults I noted yesterday and the weather has taken a turn for the worse in
> regard to good weather for migrating. In other somewhat be related odd
> shorebird migration news three adult RED KNOTS flew a couple circles around
> the ponds before heading out to the the NW while I was there with this peep
> too.
> >
> > I Still haven't relocated the Bank Swallow I found there last week.
> >
> >
> > David
> >
> > David C. Bailey
> > Manzanita, Oregon for the summer
>
>
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