pectoral sandpipers at Lincoln Beach and also two mystery peeps

["L. D. Giddings" <seldom74 at xmission dot com>]

This morning three pectoral sandpipers were seen in the tall grass at
the north end of Lincoln Beach, where the "beach" runs into the south
embankment that helps form the small harbor and loading ramp. There was
also a pectoral sandpiper seen at the edge of the grass at the far south
end of the beach where the mud flats are found and a steam of water
seems to inlet. In addition, several hundred western sandpipers, a few
Baird's and least sandpipers, killdeer, five semipalmated plovers,
Wilson's snipe, American avocets, black-necked stilts, greater
yellowlegs, white-faced ibis, snowy egrets, Virginia rails, western and
Clark's grebes, American coots, ring-billed gulls, California gulls, and
a single group of 48 caspian terns were also observed. A few ducks in
"what the bleep are you?" plumage were also observed but not identified.

Also at the far south end of the beach in shallow water east of the mud
flats, I observed a large, buffy peep that I could not identify, despite
attempting to study it for roughly 15 minutes. It was nearly twice as
large as the western sandpipers around it and significantly larger than
a neighboring Baird's. It was significantly smaller than a greater
yellowleg that ambled past. It's body seemed about the size of a
killdeer body, but with long dark legs and a long dark bill that seemed
fairly straight and somewhat heavy; there did not seem to be any curve
to it (darn it!). However, I never was able to get a very good look at
either its bill or its legs since the bird spent most of its time with
its face and legs buried in the water, and the occasional brief glimpses
I did have were complicated by difficult lighting. It had a dark, solid
cap and was very light through the eye region. My first impression was
that it was a long-billed dowitcher, but it seemed a little on the small
side and did not feed with the characteristic sowing machine behavior of
dowitchers. Perhaps it was a juvenile bird???

The second mystery peep was about the same size as - or perhaps slightly
larger than - a western sandpiper and had similar bland winter plumage
coloration. But it had a very short bill, about 2" or less, and it
walked uprightly around the mudflats like a small ruff, rather than with
the typical forward lean of a western. I only saw it for a minute or so
and then it disappeared. Was this just a western with a bad attitude
and/or posture problems, or could it perhaps have been something
different?

Unfortunately there are no photos, so you only have my lame descriptions
to go by. But any suggestions would be appreciated.

Lu Giddings


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