Sounds like a Baird's Sandpiper. Mike H. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Weston" <[email protected]> To: "Mou-net" <[email protected]>; "mnbird" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2004 2:17 AM Subject: [mou] Birding along I-94 to Fargo
> Work sent me to Fargo today. A beautiful day for a drive and time to stop and look at some shorebirds. > > Red-tailed hawks along the way out were all lighter than I am use to seeing in the cities, especially on their heads. One > pair of hawks sitting on hay bails on the north side of I-94 just east of mile 118 near Osakis looked like Ferruginous, but > at 70+mph, all I could say for sure was that they were worth a second look. > > Stopped at Barnesville on the way back and checked out their very birdy sewerage ponds. Found an unidentified sandpiper > (described below) that I studied a while and: > Red-necked Phalaropes (5) > Eared Grebe > good variety of ducks > At least eight varieties of shorebirds plus > > one unidentified sandpiper: > smaller than lesser yellowlegs, estimated size 7 to 9". body shaped like yellowlegs, but yellow-green legs were shorter. > Bill was longish (~ 1.5 x length of head), dark,thick at base and slightly decurved. > Crown was rusty brown and streaked. Had a line through the eye. wings (and back?) was rich brown and sculpted. Primaries > were dark with light edges. > neck and breast was a rich buffy color and essentially unstreaked, although there was some faint streaking down the sides. > Belly and under tail were white. > Tail and upper tail coverts were white, with a black terminal smudge on tail, but might not be on all the tail feathers, > The tail is unique, and easily marks the bird as the target. > The bird does not match anything I can find. Perhaps someone else will be able to look at it and recognize it. In > retrospect I believe it is an aberrant. > > Steve Weston on Quigley Lake in Eagan > [email protected] > > > _______________________________________________ > mou-net mailing list > [email protected] > http://cbs.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mou-net >
