At 03:06 PM 07/15/1999 -0400, stamps@sea-east.com wrote: >Gail and I saw the Little Stint today at Cape May, NJ (shhhh, don't tell >Norm). Two points, one concerning location, the other the bird. > >LOCATION: It's at the Higbee Beach dredge spoil impoundment. When you >get to the end of the road to Higbee Beach there are three dirt trails >for you to choose from. The correct one is the one to the right. Follow >that until you just come out of the woods. The walk is only a few >hundred yards. The impoundment is on the right. The dike surrounding the >impoundment is about 20 feet tall and the sides are covered with >fragmites. At the corner of the dyke where you first come to it, there >is a narrow beaten trail up the side. Take that. At the top you will see >two spurs that go into the center of the dyke. The bird was on the other >side of the closest spur. Where you view the bird from depends upon the >sun angle. In the morning the sun is into your eyes if you try to view >from the first spur. If you go in the morning, go around to your right >when you get to top of the dyke. You should be able to see the bird >adequately from somewhere along the right side. > >THE BIRD: Unless you are very familiar with the bird, or you are very >close to it when you first see it, you will likely overlook it. It isn't >very brightly colored. The upper breast is a mauve leaning to buff, or >buff leaning to mauve, take your pick. The most obvious thing about the >upper part of the breast to the base of the bill is that the throat is >white, so that the mauve color looks somewhat like a breast band. The >head, neck, back and wings of the bird are lighter colored than the many >Least Sandpipers that are around. But you need a proper lighting angle >to see this. The color is nowhere near as bright as the various field >guides and other books show. There are two white strips down the bird's >back - almost like a snipe, but not as prominent. The legs are >definitely black, and that is the best way to eliminate the Leasts from >further consideration. The bird is the size of a Least, so most of the >time you won't confuse it with the many Semipalmated or Western >Sandpipers. > >However, the best way to find the bird may be to come late enough in >the morning that the bird has already been found by the many other >birders that will likely be there. > >Charlie & Gail Vaughn >1306 Frederick Avenue >Salisbury, MD 21801 > >stamps@sea-east.com >