I came across an interesting stint in amongst a flock of Red Necked
Stints at the Manly wader roost yesterday - I got one reasonable shot
before managing to flush the birds. I went back this morning for
another go, and managed to find the bird again [finding a stint is not
as easy as finding a larger bird].
The bird. Unlike the bulk of the rest of the RNS, which are in their
drab grey summer uniforms, this bird's wings and crown had a fair bit
of chestnut and dark brown - a bit like a breeding Sharp-tailed
Sandpiper. It had a mostly white face and throat, with a chestnut
breast band [with a bit of dark brown freckling]. The colour seems to
be browner than the "sunburnt" red I've seen on RNS in April/May. The
other interesting thing was its very white and broad supercilium [eye
brow] which broadened out behind the eye. The bird may be a late
moulter, or it may be in a reverse breeding plumage.
Statistically, the odds are that it is an unusual RNS. I've put a
couple of pix on BirdForum to see if the northern hemisphere people
have any comments - see http://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=114
.
Since I managed to find the bird on consecutive days, it seems to be
hanging about. Wader watchers who are visiting the Manly wader roost
with their scopes may like to keep an eye out for it (both times I saw
it, it was close to the water in the proximity of the section
separating the two water bodies - ie it was washing in the fresh water
pond today, and beside a "grass" patch near the tidal pond yesterday).
It never pays to read too much into wader plumage, but this bird may
prove interesting.
Regards, Laurie.
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