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Pectoral Sandpiper - Gestreepte Strandloper Calidris melanotos adult; videograbs (320x), contrast-enhanced. |
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Pectoral Sandpiper |
Gestreepte Strandloper |
Calidris melanotos
Pictures: Teus Luijendijk
Suppose you bought yourself a new toy (a digital video camera) and you wished to check out its possibilities on a nice bird. Where to go?
This question became very actual for me when I finally did buy such a miniDV system in the summer of 2000. The answer, however, turned out to be an easy one, for a Pectoral Sandpiper had just been reported from a site quite close to where I live. Wader enthusiast as I am, I drove to the site (a construction site for some as yet unclear new works) and easily found the bird. I just started filming it from a distance of about 70 m, through my Kowa TSN-824 32x telescope. Below are shown some of the results. I had successfully entered into the world of digiscoping!
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Pectoral Sandpiper - Gestreepte Strandloper Calidris melanotos adult; videograbs (320x), contrast-enhanced. |
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20 July 2002, Scherpenisse, Tholen Ze
Just where a Wilson's Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor was reported, a Pectoral Sandpiper was picked out from the large numbers of waders present here. These apparently like each other's company for my first dutch Wilson's Phalarope (in Lauwersmeer in 1988) was also accompanied by a 'Pec Sand'!
Unfortunately, a huge thunderstorm now came in, which was responsible for the very dark and quite poor video shots I took from this elegant species.
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Pectoral Sandpiper - Gestreepte Strandloper Calidris melanotos adult; videograbs (320x), contrast-enhanced. |
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14 September 2002, Callantsoog NH
And again, on the same day as (and quite close to) a Wilson's Phalarope, this bird was seen on an inundated bulb field in North-Holland. It was very confiding, allowing the close-ups shown below.
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Pectoral Sandpiper - Gestreepte Strandloper Calidris melanotos juvenile; videograbs (200-320x), contrast- |
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And another one, now in spring. It turned up in the 'nature development area' called Lentevreugd, situated between the towns of Katwijk and Wassenaar. This is very close to where I live, so it didn't take me long to get there one sunny afternoon. Because the breast was not very boldly marked for a breeding-plumage bird, it probably was a female.
This bird was soon after followed by even a second individual at this site.
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Pectoral Sandpiper - Gestreepte Strandloper Calidris melanotos adult; videograbs (320x), contrast-enhanced. |
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And even a third one in our region, now during the hot spell in early August. On the day that temperatures soared to a new heat record in Britain (38.1°C in Gravesend), but only a 'mere' 32°C here, this bird popped up at one of the few inundated bulb fields in our region.
There was some uncertainty regarding the age of this individual: whitish outer edges to the scapulars (thus forming 'snipe lines'), a rather prominent supercilium and rounded scapulars and coverts suggested a juvenile, but the variation in scapular and covert length is strongly indicative for an adult. The sparse, fine streaking on the chest indicates that this bird is a female.
These stills were taken from a video recording through my bins in the last evening light.
(Thanks to Willem-Jan Hooijmans and Kevin Karlson for comments on ths bird)
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Pectoral Sandpiper - Gestreepte Strandloper Calidris melanotos adult female; videograbs (80x), contrast-enhanced. |
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Copyright ©Teus Luijendijk 2002-2006
