Posted by Steven Mlodinow (205.188.199.154) on October 24, 2000 at 15:30:00:
Greetings All
Certainly, at first glance, this bird appears to be a Pectoral Sandpiper. The dull crown, split and dull supercilium, lack of buff on chest, and lack of eyering all point away from Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. The streaking seems to form a band across the chest, perhaps with a bit of a belly-ward extension at mid-breast, as many Pecs show.
The dark appearing legs are a bit baffling though. A Pectoral Sand (or Sharp-tailed, or Least, or Long-toed) should have yellow to green legs. This made me think of Little Stint. Little Stints can be similarly patterned above (bright chestnut feather edges, white mantle lines) plus have a split supercilium, streaky chest, and would have DARK legs, as the photo seems to show. They also tend to have longer primary projection than Least and Western Sandpipers, at least approaching what is shown in the photo. The bill, however, seems very wrong for Little Stint, being too long and too thick at the base. And though the bill seems a bit odd for a Pec, it seems within the range of that species.
Soooo, I'd say the mystery bird is a Pectoral Sandpiper.
Cheers
Steven Mlodinow