Curlew Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover at Breech Pool

Not surprisingly my blog today is almost a replica of the Pagham Birder's Blog, of course as we spent an hour or so together at Breech Pool we managed to photograph the same birds at the same time. I went in search of the Little Stint but a no show meant that I had to concentrate on the Little Ringed Plovers. As I was happily snapping away another bird landed on the mud, my first impressions were Curlew Sandpiper! and as there was another birder present I asked for his opinion - 95% sure a CS and later he made it 100%. All was well until Trevor arrived who, quite correctly,  challenged the ID
- Larger than a Dunlin - yes.
- Longer finer tipped and more evenly decurved bill - probably
- More elegant outline - not really
- White rump, obvious in flight - not seen - it landed facing me and had not flown since.

Having had a "mini" Dunlin earlier in the week what was wrong with a "maxi" Dunlin? The arrival of Andrew House finalised the discussion with a succinct - Adult Curlew Sandpiper. However processing the photos at home there are distinct traces of "peach"  on the upper breast.

I know the vagaries of light, especially on birds adjacent to water, can change colours and that the camera can accentuate colours but in this case the bird looked much paler - anyway a selection of shots provided below so you can form your own view.




A tad peachy



Different light - no peach

 

Definite white rump - look!

 

 

 

Nice to see Ian too, hope he has managed to find the blog.

So in the end we had 9 Dunlin, 1 Curlew Sandpiper and 3 Little Ringed Plovers, large supporting cast including a single Shoveler and several Snipe. Teal numbers are rising fast but BTGs and Lapwings seem to have thinned out somewhat since last week.

 

The early morning low angled sunlight provided a pleasing warm glow to the images, much sought after by some creative photographers. It can be reduced with Photoshop but I left it in, just as they were captured.



Dunlin

 

Who am I - with a little red eye??