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Confusing waders at NSW

This bird was sighted at NSW this week and is causing lots of confusion overseas as to it's id.  I'm sure our local birders can come up with an id.
Neil

Canon G12 and Kowa lens scope Prominar and Kowa 25x LER eyepiece and Swarovski UCA adapter

NSW,
Hong Kong,
China
14/09/11

[url]http://www.flickr.com/photos/7892550@N03/6153864657/[/url]

[[i] Last edited by fneil at 17/09/2011 08:04 [/i]]

I'll try and post the photo again , otherwise try the link to Flickr.
No , still says file is too big and it's only 577x420
Neil

Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper??

David

This should show the photo.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/7892550@N03/6153864657/][img]http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6205/6153864657_5463d4126b_b.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/7892550@N03/6153864657/]unknown greenshanks G12 kw25x IMG_3797.jpg[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/7892550@N03/]neilfif11[/url]

"Unknown Greenshanks"

Hi Neil,

The four Greenshank all look like Common Greenshank to me.  

And I agree with David D that the foreground bird could be a Curlew Sandpiper.

John

It was suggested that this bird could possibly be a Cox's Sandpiper

This is a link to video of the bird

[url]http://vimeo.com/29027482[/url]

( Sorry there are several other shots before the related shot)

Interesting. "Cox's Sandpiper" was first noted in Australia in the early 1980s and was later proved to be a hybrid between male Pectoral Sandpiper and female Curlew Sandpiper.

Quite what a juv "Cox's Sandpiper" looks like c.f. a juv Curlew Sandpiper is something I'm not sure about. But I would be interested to know why this is not just a juv Curlew Sandpiper.

David

David,
      That's the way I'm leaning too, but there are experienced birds on other groups ( including Hong Kong ) suggesting Sharpie juvenile. And they are definite.
Neil

Wader at NSW

Bob, nice video !  Shows more features than the still photo.

Neil, After referring to plate 82 of my 1987 edition of "Shorebirds" I'd agree that the "capped" appearance and bright supercilium are good features for Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, but this bird does seem to have quite a long, decurved bill.

On the other hand, your  commenters overseas HERE [url]http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=211176[/url] seem to be coming round to Curlew Sandpiper !

With all due respect to the comments on Birdforum, this is pretty obviously a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper. I don't really understand what the problem is!

My understanding is that Sharp-tailed Sand would have a shorter bill, a rufous crown and rufous fringes on at least some of the upperpart feathers.

david

Thanks Paul, David and John for confirming the ID of the bird

300% enlargement of a new video clip

[url]http://www.flickr.com/photos/jingbar/6161213499/[/url]

Bob

Thanks Guys.  I'm happy with Curlew Sand now too although the head pattern doesn't quite look right.
Unusually too he was on his own with Greenshanks and Marshies.
Neil

The head pattern looks typical in the video, but dark in the stills.