White-rumped Sandpiper, Longham Lakes, Dorset, 30/11/12 (Lorne Bissell)
1st December 2012
Not content with finding Longham Lakes’s first Kittiwake this week, Lorne Bissell has triumped with the discovery of a much rarer bird, a White-rumped Sandpiper. This is the second American vagrant on the site after last year’s Blue-winged Teal, but it’s much rarer.
The photos here are stills from Lorne’s video. The very small white wing-bar is obvious above left, while the
White-rumped Sandpiper, Longham Lakes, Dorset, 30/11/2012 (Lorne Bissell)
completely white rump is shown off well in the photo to the right. This actually eliminates the possibility of almost any other wader, apart from the larger, longer-legged and longer-billed Curlew Sandpiper (still not recorded from Longham!). This grab is take as the bird is flushed by a Black-headed Gull on the main (northern) island on Longham Reservoir South.
White-rumped Sandpiper, Longham Lakes, Dorset, 30/11/12 (Lorne Bissell)
The bottom photo gives a good impression of the jizz of the bird, and hints at a long primary projection. The bird is also somewhat dusky on the breast and flanks, with a white patch on the chin. There is no sign of a white supercilium, which ought to be visible.
Lorne discovered the bird yesteraday morning, Friday Nov 30th. Happily it was still present this morning, and was heard to give a call quite similar to a Pied Wagtail. Also at Longham today, at least 4 Common Snipe, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Goldeneye and 18 Little Egrets. Also, of purely local interest only, 1 Mistle Thrush.