Here's my quick and dirty answer (w/o much detailed ID work):
#1 juv. Semipalmated
#2 adult White-rumped
#3 adult Semipalms
#4 adult White-rumped (based on size)
#5 juv. Western
#1) Juv Semipalmated Sandpiper- scaly and rufous edged upperparts give this away as a juvenile. This bird appears a little to fresh,lacking contrasing wing covert panel and tertial show by similarly aged Juv Western Sands this time of year. Also doesn;t appear quite brown enough for a Least Sandpiper and those grayish coverts wouldn't be good for a Least Either.
#2) moulting adult White-rumped Sandpiper- long wings,slightly larger size compared to SESA,arrowhead shaped marks extending down flanks also assist in the id,since these are never shown by SESA.Patchy wing coverts with random dark feathers and lack of rufous egdes in scapulars assit in aging this bird as an adult. Baird's Sandpiper is similarly long winged but would be much browner overall and I'm pretty sure those arrow heads along the flanks asre bad for Baird's
#3)Moulting adult Samipalmated Sandpipers- both birds have a few new winter gray scapulars contrasing against dark alternate plumaged feathers.Short blunt tipped bill alone could probably rule out Western Sandpiper and Least would show a slightly longer much finer tipped bill amoung other things( apparent black legs). None of the old world Stints fit these birds,but won't get into that.
#4) this i think is the toughest birds here maybe because of the angle and amount of blur. The bird does look slightly longer billed that than the SESA's in front but I've learned that blurry photos of small shorebirds with this HA cab make the birds bill appear slightly longer and thinner that it actually is.
Age- adult- all small juv Calidrids,peeps whatever you wanna call them show some rufous in the upperparts this time of year and many will show some on ear coverts and crown as well.This bird lacks rufous tones and shows dark and paler feathers, i'd say it's a moulting adult and perhaps a little behind the front two birds.
Species- Semipalmated Sandpiper- plumage wise it looks very close to the SESA's in front and those gleaming white flanks should rule out WRSA. Looks too gray overall and that contrasting grayish nape looks bad for Bairds Sandpiper. Also notice this birds appears to be standing on the shore while the others are in the water so that might make it look larger?
#5) This massive headed and billed bird is a juv Western Sandpiper.Compare the size and shape of this birds head to the adjacent SESA's. Juv WRSA can show similar contrasting scaps but this bird is short winged with wings equal to the tail tips. Juvenile Dunlin can show a bill with similar shape and length,but a juv Dunlin will always at least have streaking across the breast and often some spotting below as well.
that's about it...awesome guys,keep em coming.No time to proof read this so please excuse potential spelling errors :)
Well done Julian. Withhold the answers for a few day to give more folks time to play.
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