Posted by Nicholas Block (128.42.164.73) on October 21, 2000 at 01:27:25:
My first impression of this bird was that it was not a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, thus making it most likely a brightly-colored juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper (I think the primary projection eliminates stints or peeps). In almost every photo I've ever seen of a juvenile Sharp-tailed, the bright orangish wash across the breast and white supercilium stand out very nicely. I didn't get that impression of either mark on this bird. Instead, the breast appears to be a grayish color with maybe a hint of warmer tones, especially toward the neck. The eyering on Sharp-taileds also usually stands out nicely, but I just see a thin, broken one on this bird. The rufous coloring present in all the coverts bothers me a little since I would expect it to be more limited to just the scapulars, but I think this is within the range of Pectorals. Lastly, the rufous edgings to the tertials are not as broad as I would expect on a Sharp-tailed, and the undertail coverts look clean at this angle.