Rainy Day Peeps

[Dave]

On a recent trip to the ocean, I took these picture of some peeps. I am a rookie with these birds and enjoy the challenge of identifying them. I'll share my thoughts and encourage correction!

I think the little guy with the rufous back in the right corner is a Western Sandpiper. The slightly bigger guys I think are Bairds.



Here are some more shots of what I think are Bairds Sandpipers. I normally do not see a lot of Bairds together like this, so am hesitant with the ID. I do see that the wings are distinctly longer than the tail, and heavy black spotting on the back.







This little guy was a bit of a loner. Perhaps a Western Sandpiper in transfer from breeding to non-breeding (hense the spotty breast?)



Well, these are my guesses, what do you think?

Dave

[Gord]

Dave

Here's my thoughts.

Those bigger guys there are sanderling. While some of the fieldmarks one looks for are the similar to Baird's, these guys' lack of buffy tones and bigger size makes them sanderling (all juveniles by the looks of it)

Id say that the bottom guy is a western too. Nice pictures of those guys! Look forward to hearing your report on your trip.

[Dave]

I stand corrected once again

Report, what report?? Well, we spent the day in Vancouver and saw about 70 species. Highlight Bird was Marbled Murrelet. Arriving home we realized that spending the bulk of high tide at Boundary Bay was the wrong thing to do, considering that Reifel and Iona both had Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, life birds for me. We enjoyed Point Roberts (That is where the pictures are from). The ferry jetty had good variety. I am going to study those sanderlings tonight!

Dave