Waders can seem all the same, unless you are a wader expert. It thus took until this morning for me to give the two well-reported sandpipers at Kelly’s Swamp some attention. They were together, at the far south end of the swamp, among lots of dotterels, and initially looked identical. Neither were bobbing, or flicking their tails. I’m not convinced that I could have identified either to species without the other there as a direct visual comparison, but time revealed subtle differences:
- Sharp-tailed Sandpiper: the slight smaller bird, with darker legs, and a more rufous crown with a clearer white eyebrow
- Pectoral Sandpiper: the slightly rangier bird, with yellow-green legs, and a darker, more mottled grey breast/bib above pale grey underparts
How anyone could identify these with confidence in a mixed flock across a large expanse of mudflats is another matter!
Steve
