Friday 21 April 2017

Vagrant pectoral sandpiper at the waste water site

Last Sunday Mohamed Vall and I visited the waste water site north of the city. We saw heavy passage (see last blog).

I concentrated on the warblers and spent little time on waders.

However I did take photos of just one wader which I thought looked a little different. I then looked at the photo on the camera screen and dismissed the bird as a ruff

I should have trusted my initial instincts.

Thanks are due to Bram Piot in Dakar, Senegal and Marco Thoma for correctly identifying the bird as a pectoral sandpiper having seen one picture on yesterday's blog.

pectoral sandpiper

It has a streaked breast, pale base to the bill and an attenuated tail. There are other features which separate it from a ruff.


pectoral sandpiper

As far as I can tell this is only the second record of a pectoral sandpiper in Muaritania. The first one was also near Nouakchott. American vagrants should be very possible given how far Mauritania sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean.




Source: Cornell Lab of Ornithology


In correspondence, Colin Cross from The Gambia pointed out that the American rarity, solitary sandpiper is a much more common occurence in West Africa than pectoral sandpiper. He also observed that the opposite is the case in Europe.

Source: Cornell Lab of Ornithology


I can only assume that is because pectoral sandpiper takes a slightly more northerly route back to its breeding range.

Either way I need to be more on my guard for Nearctic vagrants such as American golden plover, solitary sandpiper and buff-breasted sandpiper in the future.

5 comments:

  1. Cordialement, depuis le nord du Sénégal...
    http://ornithondar.blogspot.sn/2012/12/12-evenement-2e-mention-du-becasseau.html

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  2. http://ornithondar.blogspot.sn/2012/12/2012-trois-mentions-senegalaises-de.html

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  3. http://ornithondar.blogspot.sn/2016/12/8-21-deviant-du-nearctique-un-becasseau.html

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. I hope this finds you and yours doing well. Birding for a Lark has been added to our new Site Directory, SiteHoundSniffs.com under All, Birding/Wildlife, Scholastic/Sciences and Mauritania. In essence, SiteHoundSniffs is just like a grander blogroll or favorite sites list. Please email me at jerryebeuterbaugh@sitehoundsniffs.com if you want more details or the site removed. I am sorry for failing to find a way to contact you privately.

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