ML642762994

Observation details

***very rare, and super cool!! No previous records for New Jersey that I’m aware of, but 4-5 Long Island records, as well as records for Delaware, Maryland, and Connecticut. At the northern corner of the impoundment, seen from the grassy pulloff area off Matts Landing Road. After going through the dense groups of SESAs that were high and dry, I was scanning through the shorebirds foraging at the water’s edge (where the Dunlin were, for the most part), and came across a Dunlin-sized shorebird with lots of orange on the back (like a Dunlin), but with heavy streaking throughout the underparts, rather than a black belly patch. The bill was decurved and tapered, but shorter than a Dunlin’s, and seemed all black. I immediately jumped to this conclusion as the ID, and subsequent careful observation and photos bore this out. It eventually flew away in the company of three Dunlin, going low over the impoundment to the west, and then popping over the dike and out to Delaware Bay. Flight photos show the rump pattern to be intermediate between Dunlin and White-rumped, with a tapering, barely complete, dark line down the center of the rump, and thinner streaks surrounding it. Photos and video.

Additional species

• Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla