There's nothing like fuzzy photos of moulting plumage shorebirds to add challenge to bird id. I'm looking through some photos from
May 26, 2015 from the Rattray Marsh in Mississauga.
These two birds were on the mud flats in the lagoon along with several Spotted Sandpipers and Killdeer.
The grey-ish shorebird was the smallest, quite dwarfed by the Spotted.
The brown-ish shorebird was intermediate in size, larger than the grey-ish but still noticeably smaller than the Spotted.
I tried running the brown-ish bird's photo through Merlin. It suggested a White Rumped Sandpiper.
I know that Semipalmated Sandpipers were spotted in the area the previous day, and wondered if that's what the grey-ish bird was.
Any opinions? (Other than that I need to get a better photo next time? which I agree with wholeheartedly.)
Brownish Bird
[attachment=0:1jx5vci0]PossibleWhiteRumpedSandpiperMississaugaMay262015.jpg[/attachment:1jx5vci0]
Brownish Bird
[attachment=1:1jx5vci0]PossibleWhiteRumpedSandpiperMay262015RattrayMarsh.jpg[/attachment:1jx5vci0]
Greyish Bird
[attachment=2:1jx5vci0]PossibleSemiPalmatedSandpiperMay262015RattrayMarshMississauga.jpg[/attachment:1jx5vci0]
