Hi Everyone,

A bit of house-cleaning here before I find an excuse to not send this. I visited 
Triadelphia Lake Road (Howard/Montgomery) on 9/19 to enjoy the great shorebirds 
that were being seen there. It was the best shorebird show I've seen in Howard 
Co., and we spent four hours just keeping an eye on the extensive mudflats. We 
enjoyed the White-rumped and Baird's Sandpiper, and also found a very 
long-billed peep that looked good for Western Sandpiper.

Upon inspection of my photos, I realized that we might have been dealing with a 
Semipalmated Sandpiper at the extreme end of bill length. I sent the photos 
around and all consulted have agreed. The bill is quite long, but it seems 
decidedly straight and Semi-like, without tapering near the tip. This is 
especially evident in the image where it is facing left (included below). Other 
images show this consistently. Structurally, the bird is a better match for 
Semipalmated as well. I think one factor that partially explains confusion is 
that many birds present were muddy and had a drop of mud at the tip of their 
bills. This adds a suggestion of a droop at the tip in a couple of my distant 
photos.

I am not saying that a Western Sandpiper was not present during a great 
shorebird day that attracted a Baird's to Howard County. However, others might 
want to consider whether this might have been the bird that was seen. It was 
very convincing under field conditions. I'd also be interested in whether any 
other documentation exists to support Western on those dates. Again, not trying 
to wreak havoc on anyone's lists - just trying to do what we can for good 
record-keeping!

Some shots of the bird in question:

http://www.billhubick.com/images2/peep_md_20100919_01.jpg
http://www.billhubick.com/images2/peep_md_20100919_02.jpg
http://www.billhubick.com/images2/peep_md_20100919_03.jpg

 
Here's to good data!

b

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com