2022-08-10

Find of the week: A stilt sandpiper



  • <p>JAMES HIRTLE PHOTO</p><p>A stilt sandpiper (foreground) and a short-billed dowitcher found at Sand Dollar beach in Rose Bay.</p>
  • <p>JAMES HIRTLE PHOTO</p><p>A common merganser found at Mush-a-Mush river.</p>

I was privileged to find a stilt sandpiper at Sand Dollar Beach by Conrad's Island in Rose Bay on July 23.

Eric Mills had seen a different one the day before at the same location. With digital photography it was easy to tell that the two birds were different. The stilt sandpiper nests across North America in tundra from Alaska to James Bay and in Ontario.

They winter in the extreme southern United States and south through Central America and South America to Uruguay and Argentina.

The stilt sandpiper is 18.75 to 22.5 cm long with a wingspread of 38.75 to 42.5 cm. Sexes outwardly are similar, but the females on average are slightly larger. Both sexes have a somewhat long and slender black bill, which is straight or slightly down curved at the tip.

They have long green-yellow legs with front toes webbed at the base. In the spring they have rusty cheeks with cross-barred underparts. In the fall they are gray above and white below with faint markings on the breast.

The food of the stilt sandpiper is worms, fly and mosquito larvae, small mollusks, seeds, roots, and leaves of aquatic plants.

On August 3, Dorothy Poole reported that there was a rufous hummingbird at the residence of Brian Everett at Western Head in Queens County. Jon Prentiss sighted two common nighthawks at Back Harbour in Lunenburg on July 31. These were the first that he has seen in a number of years.

I led a field trip on July 31 for the Nova Scotia Bird Society. It ran from Mahone Bay up to Clearland, Long Hill, the Bay To Bay Trail and out through Mader's Cove ending at Second Peninsula. We saw 44 species of birds. Of note, there were very few warblers, with us only finding six species in very low numbers. Most other bird species that had been breeding had moved out of the area. In talking to friends from elsewhere in the province a similar pattern was occurring.

On July 27, Logan Moore located a little blue heron at Kenny Road on Cape Sable Island. Dorothy Poole and I made a venture to Yarmouth to try and see the Mississippi kites that had shown up there on August 1. From reports there were 11 still there in the area the day before.

I had missed this species while on Brier Island in 1995. I had made a pit stop , while with a group of birders who had gone ahead, and they saw a Mississippi kite. By the time I had caught up with the group, the bird was gone. So I was pleased to see four on my trip to Yarmouth with Dorothy.

You may reach me at (902) 693-2174 or email jrhbirder@hotmail.com

Thank you for printing this article from lighthousenow.ca. Subscribe today for access to all articles, including our archives!