ML646232345

Observation details

Wow! Incredible find by Cliff Dorse earlier in the day. Amazing how vagrant birds find a patch of suitable habitat even on the other side of the world. A full world lifer for me. Uniquely shaped with long neck, moving back and forth while tail bobbed up and down. Like a hybrid between a Little Whimbrel and a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Median crown stripe suggesting whimbrel affinities. Long yellow legs. Very wary and skittish. New exactly where observers where even at some distance. When a pair of Kittlitz’s flew in to investigate it the Upland Sandpiper immediately crouched down the ground. Also chased by a White-fronted Plover causing the Sandpiper to take off in flight. Moving a lot and apparently had relocated up to a few hundred metres from where first found. Fantastic bird. Bird is in early stages of primary moult having fully replaced two inner primaries and almost finished growing the third. P4 seems already dropped.