Species: Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda)

Number: 1

Reporter: (include address, phone, e-mail)

Lisa Hardy

2153 B Old River Road

Kingston, ID 83839

208.512-0003

basalt@earthlink.net

Other Observers: none

Date Report Prepared: 30 May 2007

Date Sighting Occurred: 30 May 2007 about 4:30 PM

Locality of Observation: Page sewage treatment ponds, near Page, Idaho in Shoshone County's Silver Valley.

Habitat: The settling pond on the east side of the treatment ponds, which at this time had a few very shallow stretches of water (<1 foot deep), stretches of mud, and bands of grass with a few scattered forbs.

Conditions: Sunny, warm, sun in west, viewing bird to northeast.

Did you take notes…

during the observation? ______________

after the observation? yes______________

the same day? ____________________

another day?______________________

not at all? ________________________

Did you consult a field guide or other reference work?

during the observation?____________

later the same day? I called Shirley Sturts, who consulted her books

another day? _____________________

not at all? ________________________

What guide(s) or reference(s) did you consult? Shirley consulted Sibley, NG, and Stokes. At home that evening, I consulted Sibley, NG and Paulson (1993).

Description: Large shorebird. Darker mottled brown on back, and light brown undersides with some dark flecking on breast. Could not determine shape of flecks. A line of scattered white feathers along scapulars. Long neck. Pale face and neck with prominent round dark eye set in pale face. Darker brown crown. Long, straight yellow bill - roughly as long as head, and long yellow legs. My impression was of a bird somewhat chunkier than a yellowlegs.

Behavior: Stalked through the grass extending forward and then retracting neck with every step, slightly crouched position, and more deliberate than a yellowlegs. Periodically would stab at ground. After I had observed it for several minutes, it disappeared into taller grass.

How and when did you positively identify the bird, and what clinched the identification for you? After studying the field guides when I returned home, I determined that no other bird had the same combination of long yellow bill and long yellow legs and prominent dark eye set in pale face.

How did you eliminate similar species, and what were they? This bird had a whitish, bleached appearance to face and neck which I have not seen in yellowlegs. The yellow bill eliminates either yellowlegs. Other large shorebirds such as curlews, godwits, willet have much longer bills, curved bills and dark-colored bills.

Field marks not seen: I did not see a dark tip to the bill. I looked for the relative length of folded wings to tail, but could not get a clear view due to the grass. In the one brief but clear view I had of the entire bird, as it moved past an open spot, I noted the yellow legs. The field guides show detailed patterning on the neck and barring on the flanks, neither of which did I note.

Experience with this species (and similar species): I do not remember seeing this species before, so even if I find in my notes that I have seen it before, this is equivalent to zero experience.

General birding experience: intermediate

Were photo(s), video, and/or audio obtained by you? (If yes, please include or attach) no

Narrative: I was scanning the settling pond impoundment carefully with my spotting scope, looking for any late shorebirds, when I spotted a large brownish shorebird foraging on dry land. My brain instantly suggested "yellowlegs", but immediately I saw that it had a very pale, whitish neck, and then it turned sideways to me and I saw the pale face and long yellow bill. I then watched it for several minutes trying to mentally note field marks as it foraged in a line perpendicular to my view. I was unable to make out the shape of the small dark marks on the breast. It fluffed its wings once, and the underwings appeared dark, or maybe it was shadow. After it disappeared in the grass, I called Shirley Sturts and she looked in her field guides. Together we determined that the most likely candidate was Upland Sandpiper, but her guides said it had a short bill, and I felt the bill was long, similar in aspect to a Lesser Yellowlegs. Though I continued scanning the grass while talking to Shirley, the bird did not reappear. When I arrived home that evening, I looked at my field guides and convinced myself that all other possible identifications had been eliminated.

Other species present in the settling impoundment at the time were several Spotted Sandpiper, several Killdeer, 2 American Crows and 4 Wilson's Phalaropes. None of these were close enough to the Upland Sandpiper for a size comparison.

On our Big Day count on Saturday, 26 May, Kris Buchler had spotted an elusive bird skulking in the grass in the same general area (northeast quadrant of the settling impoundment), but we were not able to find it again. Her impression was that it was a shorebird like a yellowlegs; I think it possible that it was the same bird I saw today.