 |
| Baird's Sandpiper |
Well not really but you get my drift!
I’ve only seen one rare American Baird’s Sandpiper in the UK, a bird I saw on a trip with Jeremy to the south coast in 2017. The views were distant and heat hazy as this heavily cropped picture taken with my 800 mm lens shows. It hence resides in my well populated seen badly UK list category. So when one was found on the Welsh coast near Newport only an hour or so from home off I went off to try and see it on Sunday morning.
 |
| Bairds Sandpiper Lynch Cove Sept 2017 |
Somewhat surprisingly, given that it is only some 60 minutes from home, I have never visited the RSPB nature reserve on the Newport Wetlands or the nearby Goldcliffe Lagoons. I stupidly didn’t check the location details properly, you would have think I would have learned my lesson by now, and first went to the RSPB reserve where one of the volunteers redirected me to the extensive sea wall at nearby Goldcliffe.
Observing the Sandpiper on the extensive mudflats was very tide depended. At low tide the sea receded a long way and the bird was much harder to pick up in amongst the large flock of Dunlin it was loosely associating with. At high tide the flock was pushed up onto the few meters of remaining mudflat and was hence much easier to see. There had been no reports of the Sandpiper before I arrived but just as I was getting out of the car at Goldcliffe a report came in that it was on the mudflats along the sea wall – perfect timing for once! High tide on Sunday was around 08:00 and after my detour to the wrong location I arrived just as the tide was starting to turn.
Along the sea wall a small group of birders were clearly watching the bird. After the traditional nervous quick walk I arrived at the spot to find my good friend Nick lying prostrate on the ground photographing the bird. I had reacquainted myself with the appearance and distinguishing features of the Baird’s prior to my visit and it was comparatively easy to pick it up amongst the Dunlins as it was more Stint like both in size and habit.
Baird’s Sandpiper is named after the 19th century naturalist Spencer Fullerton Baird although there are moves a foot in the US , which I don’t fully agree with, to rename birds away from the names of the naturalist who originally studied them. They breed in the northern tundra from eastern Siberia to western Greenland where they nest on the ground, usually in dry locations with low vegetation. They are long distance migrants wintering in south America and are a rare vagrant to western Europe.
Adults have black legs and a short, straight, thin dark bill. They are dark brown on top and mainly white underneath with a black patch on the rump. The head and breast are light brown with dark streaks. One of the best identification features is the long wings, which extend beyond the tail when the bird is on the ground. The Colins bird bible also points towards its "Unusual flattened oval shape to body when viewed from the front or behind"
The characteristic flattened oval profile
I joined Nick Laying on the ground by the seawall to get as low an angle as possible for photography. I’ve said before that, as a general rule, being level with the bird yields the best results. This was obviously not possible in this case although laying down lessened the line of sight angle. Although the Baird’s was loosely associating with the Dunlin they clearly knew it was not one of their own and were quite intolerant of it when it came too close. The squat oval profile was particularly apparent when the Sandpiper was facing away from us, a very clear defining feature that I will try and remember just in the unlikely case that I stumble upon one myself. As the tide quickly receded the flock became more and more restless relocating further and further out on the mudflats.
 |
| Baird's being chased off by a Dunlin |
Before I left I spent some time gossiping and catching up with Nick and Anne and other Oxon birders present.
I was back home by 13:30, what a cracking good way to spend a Sunday morning!
Great blog as usual.
ReplyDelete