ID For Shorebirds

Hi...
Could I get some help with id's for these birds.
thanks...

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

Tricky! The birds in the first photo belong to the group of small shorebirds called "peeps" which are not easy to identify. I'd like to see them with their heads up, but I think they have to be Western Sandpipers.

Your second bird can't be anything other than a Wilson's Phalarope, but it looks so strangely dark it hardly looks like one.

The first one is a pair of dunlin, I think, not positive. This is a really tough ID without seeing the bills. They could be western sandpiper.

The second one would be a solitary sandpiper, I think (again, not positive). Definitely not a Phalarope.

Sorry, TD, but Dunlins do not have unmarked white underparts (except in their drab grey winter plumage which this is not). The adults have black belly patches and the juveniles have streaks. There are other differences too.

Solitary Sandpiper can be ruled out too. That species always shows some white spotting on the upperparts and a fairly uniformly dark head (concolorous with the mantle) with a bold white eye-ring. As in these: http://www.roysephotos​.com/SolitarySandpiper​.html

The deep body alone clearly makes the second bird a Wilson's Phalarope. Compare these:
http://www.pbase.com/c​hewy2b/image/59640944
http://www.birdsirelan​d.com …ptember/wilsons​phal02.jpg

What other American wader has that shape? The needle-tipped bill also points that way.

See also the two birds in the first pic on this page: http://naturenm.org/NM​Photos/birds.html and note particularly the pattern of the fringes on the upperparts.

Here's another shot of one of the birds in the first photo...tom

Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

Thanks. That bill does look quite long with no expansion at the tip. That plus the clove-shaped dark centres to the lower scapular feathers, the bright chestnut fringes to the upper scapulars, the rusty tint to the ear coverts, the shape of the supercilium, the wing length and the dark legs all combine to suggest juvenile Western Sandpiper to me.

I agree with Jack Dawe on the juvi Western Sandpipers and Wilson's Phalarope, good call...Excellent photos too...most people don't appreciate just how tiny and skittish these guys are, very difficult to get good shots like these...

Excellent shots. Sharp and clear.