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stopped by Edmonds this afternoon in hopes i might catch the kingfisher, but it was not to be found... a shame, but not a surprise. so i went over to the marsh to see if there was anything interesting there, and found this little fellow... no idea what it is, though. Bill, any ideas? a sandpiper or plover of some sort? the light was pretty poor, and he was some distance away, so this isn't as clear as i'd like by a long shot, but hopefully good enough for a positive ID... 7D, 600mm, 1/1600 @ f/7.1
I'm surprised I didn't run into you at the marsh as I made two trips there myself today. During my last trip there were three shorebirds on the far side of the marsh, too far away for me to ID or photograph. I always have to relearn sandpiper ID's every year.
The three most common small sandpipers found at the Edmonds marsh are dunlin, least sandpiper, and western sandpiper. It is not a least sandpiper due to its yellow legs and not a dunlin due to its shorter bill. That leaves western sandpiper, although its bill is not as drooped as a western's.
Looking at my Sibley's, the bird in the photo resembles a semipalmated sandpiper. I can post up a link to this thread on Tweeters and see what the real birders think.
i was only there for about 45 minutes... this little guy was in the first mudflat in front of the platform where Wesley usually hangs out. there were 2 or 3 of them there, along with some killdeer. i looked in my "Birds of Washington State", and it does look a lot like a semipalmated sandpiper, but they all look so much alike, it's hard to tell...
All the responses I have received from people on Tweeters have said western sandpiper. There can be variation in bill lengths among individual birds of that species.
Sanderlings seem to prefer salt water beaches. I cannot recall ever seeing any at the marsh. I suspect sanderlings have evolved to feed along the beach, darting toward and away from the incoming waves in their search for washed-up food.
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