A Genuine Baird's Sandpiper (27Aug2015)

I woke up yesterday with insomnia.  I am not not sure if it was thoughts of backlog at work or visions of the second confirmed report of a Baird's Sandpiper in NC this year.  There have been others but I believe the ones in Durham are the only photographed and confirmed sightings.  I would have jammed up that night to go find the bird but I had a bunch of early morning teleconferences and not the type I could handle while looking for a bird.  So I started work early (3am) and worked through lunch when finally I convinced myself to go chase this elusive bird.

3 hours later I was at the RR grade overlooking Ellerbe Creek and lucky for me two local birder brothers were there.  After about 45 minutes of birding with them, I split up with them and continued to bird some of the mud flats on the far side of the cove.  On a whim I turned around and saw the brothers frantically waving their arms!  They had the bird about 400 yards distant.  Can you picture in your mind's eye a grown man running across mud with a scope, a pair of binoculars and a camera?  Well sadly that is what my life has come to.  That being said, I could be smoking crack or gambling my life savings.

Disclosure, the following shots were via digiscoping hence poor quality.

This shot shows a nice comparison to a Least Sandpiper.  The Baird's SP is the bigger bird in the back.

Baird's SP - the bib is not as extensive as a Pectoral SP and more buffy with less defined streaking.  The wings are way longer than the tail which you can see here tucked between the two wings.  It's just one of those birds that once you see it you wonder how you had even questioned other misidentified birds.  For example, before we saw this bird, I had been questioning peeps and Pectorals as possible Baird's.

Look at that buffy rich coloration, pure gold!  Also note dark legs.  Pectorals and Least SPs have yellow legs.

Look at those primaries!  Gives it an elongated and tapered look.

Also important to note, the silvery back with dark markings.

The chase was so worth it! Now I am ready for the festivities that will ensue.  My older son is 10 this weekend!  Yes he was born on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.  In fact both he and Katrina happened on the same year!  I remember seeing the news footage while waiting for him to arrive.  Where has the time gone, before I know it he will be driving.

Great times.