Wednesday 23 November 2011

White-rumped Sandpiper

Back on the 22nd October Lisa and I paid a visit to Rutland Water to see the lingering adult White-rumped Sandpiper. The bird had been around for a few days and I saw it as a good chance of getting this wader on my British list.

On arrival at the reserve we quickly realised that we were not going to be alone in seeing this bird as the car park was full, with the overflow car park overflowing! We eventually managed to park and after paying, started our long walk to what is the furthest hide on the reserve from the visitor centre. We passed many binocular wearing and scope carrying birders who all assured us that the bird was still showing, so we pressed on.

We arrived at the rather full hide, which conveniently is quite a massive construction and were put onto the bird straight away by a very helpful birder. The sandpiper was hanging around with a group of Dunlin, which didn`t aid me in picking out the bird. To the uninitiated (i.e. me!) the birds looked pretty similar (see the last but one photo below), but after being shown the i.d. features by the same helpful birder I managed to get my eye in and was actually able to point the bird out when new arrivals came into the hide.

The White-rumped Sandpiper breeds in North America, is a little smaller than the Dunlin and has quite a bold white eye-stripe. The wings of the bird are also quite long, in fact they project beyond the tail. Also, it has a white rump, which is obvious in flight and helpfully the bird at Rutland showed all these features off rather well.

Another tick in the book!






10 comments:

  1. I wonder how many go undetected. I know I'd have dismissed it as another Dunlin. A nice tick for the book!

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  2. Hi John,
    Thank you for sharing this informative and pictorial delight posting. It's always a pleasure visiting your blog and my sincere apologies for my absence. I've been rather out of the loop just lately.
    In peace and kind wishes, your way, Gary

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  3. Great serie John...it always is here ;)

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  4. Hi John,
    Many thanks. Yes, it was difficult to pick out, but it did look a bit different, so I may have looked at it twice and thought it was a funny looking Dunlin! ;)
    J

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  5. Hi Gary,
    Apologies are not necessary my friend, we all have lives to lead! Thankyou for your kind words, as always.
    J

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  6. Thanks Dominic,
    You are lucky to have such a lovely little wader living near you all the time!
    J

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  7. Fantastic John, I have never seen one. The last one is my favourite.

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  8. Thanks Bob. That one is my favourite too!
    J

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  9. I would have thought a "Dunlin" John, but then I would have to had looked that up. Very nice capture.

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  10. Thanks Roy,
    Yes, they were quite difficult to tell apart, especially with how Dunlins differ in appearance!
    J

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