I don't think that I've ever seen a Stilt sandpiper in the spring. They navigate a different flyway. If I get to see one at all it will be in the late-summer or fall. Last year, I vaguely recall that there were a few of them out on the shallow flood plane of the Rouge, although that might have been the year before. This juvenile, one of two, must have been a female because it completely ignored me. My darker side was tempted to kick sand it its face but because there was two of them I was clearly outnumbered. Never pick a fight you might lose. I was sitting on a plastic cushion because I'm special, yet my butt still managed to get wet anyway, and when one gets wet down there and then sits for a long time there is a risk for developing an ulcer, or at least a rash, and if that happened I might warrant becoming a pain in the ass to myself. Either way it's a small price to pay to capture a photograph of a Stilt sandpiper. If this is not what I've identified it as then please don't feel a need to rehabilitate my delusion. I'm keen to savour its raw, untamed state.
