Verification of Unusual
Sight Record
For Utah
Rec. # 2002-12
| Common name: |
Curlew Sandpiper |
| Scientific name: | Calidris ferruginea |
| Date: | May 6, 2001 |
| Time: | 3:30 to 4:00 p.m., 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. |
| Length of time observed: | 1-1/2 hours total |
| Number: | 1 |
| Age: | Adult |
| Sex: | |
| Location: | Antelope Island Causeway |
| County: | Davis |
| Latilong: | |
| Elevation: | |
| Distance to bird: | 10 to 15 Yards |
| Optical equipment: | |
| Weather: | Partly cloudy with high clouds |
| Light Conditions: | Good. Sunny. |
| Detailed description of bird: |
About the same size as the nearby Sanderlings. Longer bill than Sanderlings. Dark bill curved down slightly. Face rufous tinged, but with whitish-gray cheek. Narrow white eye ring, whitish eyebrow stripe. Cap on top of head was rufous with dark mottled streaking. Scaly looking mottled dark and rufous back. Rufous breast with white speckling and larger white patches near belly. White underneath from belly to tail. Black legs. |
| Song or call & method of delivery: | Not heard |
| Behavior: | Active foraging among the rocks along the causeway shoreline. Sitting quietly. Resting on one leg with bill tucked under wing. |
| Habitat: | Rocky, sandy shoreline at edge of Great Salt Lake. |
| Similar
species and how were they eliminated: |
Not a Dunlin because there was no evidence of black on belly. Plus, the
breast was rufous. Not a Red Knot because bill was long and curved. |
| Previous experience with this & similar species: | We've seen many Dunlins and Red Knots. This is our first sighting of a Curlew Sandpiper. |
| References consulted: | The Sibley Guide to Birds |
| Description from: | Notes Made Later |
| Observer: | Joel and Kathy Beyer |
| Observer's address: | 1719 Hillcrest Avenue, Salt Lake City, UT 84106 |
| Observer's e-mail address: | twobirders@juno.com |
| Other
observers who independently identified this bird: |
Keith Evans Terry Sadler Dana Green |
| Date prepared: | May 26, 2001 |
| Additional material: | |