Cox's Sandpiper(!), Lake Ellesmere.

[mikullashbee]

Hello Birders,

Its been a very productive season for waders on the shores of Lake Ellesmere. I just returned yesterday from travelling the North Island, but i couldn't contain myself with Kieran's finding of the Hudsonian Godwit, so off i went for a look. Not much going on when i first arrived but within 15 minutes the Hudsonian flew in with about 10 Bar-tailed Godwits.Thanks again to Kieran for putting in the time in the field and sharing his rare sighting. I managed a few shots of the bird but with other commitments had to leave shortly after. So naturally with the beautiful sunny evening tonight i returned in hopes of seeing the Hudwit again. To my surprise there was a sizeable group of Sharp-tailed sandpipers, 6-8 birds spread out. I inspected them all and low and behold one was much different looking. A Pectoral Sandpiper. I managed several shots of this individual and one with a sharpie right next to him in the frame. I didn't manage to see the Hudsonian this evening but its probably still around feeding at an alternate location. Here are some images of the Pectoral and the Hudsonian Godwit.

Pectoral Sandpiper with Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Hudsonian Godwit

Hudsonian Godwit amongst others

Hudsonian Godwit in flight
Can't wait to see what else shows up.
Cheers,
Mike Ashbee
To see more images from my travels please visit my website:
http://mikeashbee.smugmug.com

[RussCannings]

Awesome shots as always Mike! See you in another month or so!

Russ

[David Lawrie]

just out of left field, that looks like a strange Pectoral Sandpiper to me from the few shots shown.
has anybody considered Western Sandpiper or Coxs?
just asking!!!

[Ian Southey]

David.

Agreed. That bill looks really strange and this bird is not a Pectoral Sandpiper for several reasons. Dunlin crossed my mind briefly but it can't be. Western may be too small for this also. A quick look shows Cox's Sandpiper (hybrid between Curlew and Pectoral Sandpipers) really does have a similar bill and head pattern. Might be worth some effort to work out this odd bird but I'm out the door shortly...

Ian

[sav]

Once again, I agree with Ian. Certainly NOT a Pectoral, nor a Dunlin, it's too big for any of the "peeps". I have never seeen anything like this bird - it's almost like a tiny Great Knot.......

I dont know much about "Cox's" Sandpiper but the illustrations in Peter Hayman's Shorebirds book do look a lot like this.

And great photos Mike!!

cheers

[andrewcrossland]

I clicked on these photos and fell backwards of my chair! That ain't no pectoral sandpiper. COX's abso-bloody-lutely!scrolling down the following posts I'm glad to see others have fought similar. I live about 29kms away and have just told my wife "I'm going outside and I might be sometime!!!

[Neil Fitzgerald]

For a minute I was thinking if that's a Pectoral I've got something mixed up. Then I scrolled down. Nice photos Mike.

[Jan]

Mathias Dehling and I were talking about this bird today while doing the Ashley riverbird count. Neither of us think it's a Pectoral, but then who has seen a Cox's? It was blowing a massive gale down the Ashley and birds were elusive, results to follow.

[mikullashbee]

Hi all,
I had never considered the possibility of a hybrid, mainly because i had no clue Pecs and Curlew sands hybridized. I did compare the bird and images to the dozens of pectoral sandpipers i've photographed across North America and the first notable difference was the bill length which i passed off as something that may be variable in this species. The overall size of the bird seemed good for pectoral and when compared to the the size of the sharp-tailed it was very close. I will add a new image that also has a Curlew Sandpiper in the frame as this may help give a relative size comparison. I will also add an image of a Pectoral Sandpiper photographed in Canada for a comparison.
Curlew Sandpiper,Pectoral SandpiperXCurlew Sandpiper???,Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper, bill length does seem considerably shorter (Victoria, B.C.)
Looking forward to more thoughts regarding this individual.
Cheers
Mike Ashbee

[Michael]

Isn't this the first record outside of Australia?