This request is off topic because I saw and photographed this little
shorebird on the coast of Oregon, in the USA, not in Australia. I know
that some American birders read this list, though, and shorebirds often travel
great distances, so maybe this species has been seen by someone in Australia or
Asia. I saw the bird right after a large storm, in November of 1997.
I have been digitizing some old Hi-8 video, and I ran across some footage
of this little guy. I hadn't started birding in 1997, but I don't
recall ever seeing another bird like this, in extensive birding up and down the
west coast during the last five years. I apologize for the quality of the
pictures - they are screen captures from the video.
I have posted four pictures of the bird, at the bottom of the home page of
my web site:
www.barry15.com .
Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the four pictures.
My best guess is a juvenile Sanderling, but I have never seen a Sanderling
with black markings on its head like this, nor does the color of the wings seem
right for a Sanderling. It seems like this bird is probably in between its
breeding plumage and its winter plumage, but even taking that into
consideration, I can't identify it. From the video and some comments I
made at the time, I think the size was in the 6 to 8 inch range, probably toward
the smaller end of that range.
Any help, anyone?
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give.
Barry
