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.