Nice photos (and video!), I’m glad more people were able to find it and get better documentation than Katie and I were, and that it stuck around this long. Good view of the red crown, white supercilium, and buffy wash on the front compared to the distinct streaks forming a bib on the many Pectorals that have been around.
From the last couple afternoons I’ve gone there, going a bit earlier before the heat waves get bad and the shorebirds settle down in the grass is best. Sometimes you need to go further down the road and look back towards the cement pipe, as they like the rest behind it (not viewable directly out from the pipe).
Excellent video, Louisa! Good resolution, and fun to watch its behavior! I need to get one of those digiscope devices 😉
And thank you Carl, I just processed some of the pictures from my camera, instead of that first picture which was hand-held digiscoped with my phone, and I will submit those.
I posted a video of the bird in my eBird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S120892459. It’s located on the left side of the frame. I didn’t want to try to get it better framed as it had been moving around quite a bit and looked like it might be headed right. Here’s a photo showing the size difference between the sandpiper and a long-billed dowitcher.
Thanks for the update, Scott, and congratulations on securing what I think is the best photo yet taken of this rarity. Please continue to post updates to this forum. Also, as this is a state “Review Species” (https://ibrc.idahobirds.net/review-species), the Idaho Bird Records Committee would highly-appreciate submissions from anyone and everyone who has observed this bird, and especially those who have obtained photographs (but the more documentation, the merrier). You can submit a rare bird report at the following link: https://ibrc.idahobirds.net/node/add/rare_bird_reports (if you have not, yet).
Finally, a minor (and possibly slightly pedantic) note about terminology. The term “peep” refers to the smallest group of Calidris sandpipers including (only) Least, Western, Semipalmated, Baird’s, White-rumped, and the Old World stints. Larger sandpipers, like Sharp-tailed, and other shorebirds are not peeps, but the definition of that term has become somewhat muddled over the years.
Thank you, Scott, for the picture! The pictures I took on Sunday while Gary and I were there with you did not turn out this good. Glad you were able to find it again and get this photo.
9am: Sharp-tailed Sandpiper landed on the small gravel island about 10 minutes ago and continues to be there alone. A Dowitcher was there previously then flew into reeds along far shore.
Wanting to get a better look than I had a couple days ago, I am at the pond this morning and I saw one Mallard and five green wing teal, and they departed a few minutes after I parked. So far not a single peep in sight!
While checking out Littlerock again last week, I photographed the LBDO in the 2nd pond and noticed a dowitcher type individual with a shorter bill. I was never able to get a good luck at the tail or anything else to distinguish it as a SBDO, but as someone else reported a SBDO there today, I’ve entered it as a shorebird.sp on this checklist https://ebird.org/checklist/S120823184 (the bird in question is at the far right of the group, facing camera) and welcome comments.
Liz Medes Emmett ID
Home of Idaho Birding and the Idaho Bird Records Committee
