ML625289952

Age

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Observation details

*MEGA* First state record as well as Pacific Northwest region first!!! Looks to be fifth L48 record, if counting returning bird in California as one record. What a crazy bird. Accepted by WBRC. As we were scoping gulls in the completely flooded Waatch Valley just before dusk, Jason noted a large group of Yellowlegs hanging out on a small patch of grass that had avoided complete submersion in the flooding. The weather over the past 24 hours had been severe, with around five inches of rain and strong winds shifting from out of the south up the coast to from the west overnight. Upon stopping to scan, I noticed a medium sized wader, on the small side for waders really. It was standing with a large group of Greater Yellowlegs, I immediately called Jason's attention to it wondering if it could be a Wilson's Phalarope. He got on it quickly, and floated an odd Lesser Yellowlegs as an option. As I watched it, it fluttered a short ways where I was struck by the gleaming white rump and tail seemingly continuing up onto the back, clearly not a Wilson's Phalarope or a Yellowlegs. On the ground I had noted white underparts, a mostly white face with a bit of brownish gray around and behind the eye/in cheek area. Back was unlike that of the Yellowlegs, mostly solid gray with some brower feathers. Bill shape and size seemed comparable to that of a Wilson's Phalarope, straight and thin.  The bird was then out of sight in the grass, as I walked up the road to try for a better angle on it the whole group flushed and flew down the river and disappeared. Thankfully, they circled back where the mystery bird was easy to pick out in the group. The birds were quite restless, and the group probably spent at least five or six minutes circling up and down the valley, occasionally making like they were going to land but always pulling up at the last minute. This allowed ample views of the smaller bird, the white stripe extending all the way up the back was always evident as well were the greenish yellow legs extending beyond the tail. The bird was substantially smaller than the Yellowlegs, probably around half as big. Jason and I realized now that this was a very good bird indeed, and likely not something from this continent. Only Dowitchers show that white on the back, but those could obviously be ruled out by plumage size and bill structure. Common Greenshank is superficially similar, but obviously much larger. Redshanks as well could be confused, but the greenish legs overall plumage and size rule that option out. Jason eventually floated Marsh Sandpiper as a possibility, and a bit of googling and surfing Macaulay on the side of the road soon proved that to be really the only viable option. The flock was soon split up by a Peregrine, some of the Yellowlegs disappeared while about half the group including the Marsh Sandpiper made one last pass over us before turning and heading south towards the Tsoo-Yess valley and off into the clouds. We checked a few spots near the road out by Hobuck and Tsoo-Yess beaches to no avail, but upon stopping back in the Waatch Valley on the way back to town, we could hear Yellowlegs calling in the marsh possibly suggesting that the group turned around at some point and came back to their original spot.  Some very poor but arguably identifiable digiscoped images were obtained as the bird flew around, my camera unfortunately was out of commission with all the rain we had been having. Those will be attached to this checklist. Jason and I took notes separately, his notes will be on his list.

Technical information

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