RARE OGGURRENGE

First record of the Wood Sandpiper. P0 E•ox1•}6 '• • •rln•a /areola, from Bermuda NEWYORK. NY ,,• 10024U S A _.• Eric J.R. Amos and David B. Wingate (212)866-7923 .• // NOCTOBER 21,1981, E. Amosdis- photographed in kodachrome film, us- / Why notgo covered a Wood Sandpiperamong ing a camera equipped with a 500 mm a small group of late seasonshorebirds telephoto lens. A total of 18 photo- birdinginAsia in a rain pool on the Pembroke Marsh graphs was obtained, some of which ?' withthe people dump near Hamilton, Bermuda. This show the bird in company with Greater / whoknow it best? bird had not been observed on a previ- Yellowlegs, Tringa melanoleuca, Soli- 1983 ous check (October 18} and its restless tary Sandpiper, Tringa solitaria, and behaviour suggestedthat it had just ar- House Sparrow, Passer domesticus. 1• BirdingTours rived. After reporting this find to D. (See Figs. I and 2). MALAYSIA Wingate, both of us returned on Octo- The following description is a com- Borneo/Malaya ber 22 and 23 to make detailed observa- pendiumfrom our field notesof October tions and to obtain photographs. A 3- 22. Best described as intermediate in 13 July - 14 Aug. day period followed when neither of us size and colour between a Lesser Yel- Sumatra was able to get into the field and when lowlegs and a Solitary Sandpiper. 14 - 20 Aug. the dump site was checked again on Closer in size to a Solitary Sandpiper October 27 the bird had disappeared but legs proportionally long, compara- (Toursma• be takenconseeuti,eb, or separateIx) along with most of the other shorebirds. ble to Lesser Yellowlegs. Leg colour Both tours led by BEN KING, Asia's It was never found again there, or at any greenishyellow. Bill slightlylonger than loremost field birder, author of A Field of the other regularly checked shorebird head, relatively thick and straight and Guide to the Birds'oJ South-EclatAsia and currently writing A FieM Iden- habitats on Bermuda. bi-colouredwith the basal half greyish. tificationHandbook to the Birds'oJ the During the 2 days that observations A pronouncedwhitish line over the eye. Indian Region. were made, the bird was studied at 30- Head and neck otherwise dusky brown Write for itineraries. foot range with l0 x 40 binocularsand with fine streaking,forming a dusky col-

BIRDS OF TROPICAL AMERICA Alexander F. Skutch IYSOF TROPK;ALAMER ; BIR t,,tk. xa,•k'rl •k.,.•' Drawingsby Dana Gardner

Amongthe thir.ty-four species of tropicalAmerican birds whose biographiesfill thisbook are toucans,motmots, jacamars, tinamous, puffbirds, and potoos--birds whose very names evoke visions of the grand, mysteriousforests of Central and SouthAmerica and the fascinatingfeathered creatures who dwell there.For overfive dec- adesSkutch spared no effort to learn all he couldabout them as livingcreatures. His lovely,poignant accounts of theirlives are equaledby the drawingsof talentedyoung artist Dana Gardner and by splendidphotographs by theauthor himself.

Writefor other booksby AlexanderE Skutch

$29.95

University of Texas Press Box 7819 Austin, Texas 78712

Volume 37, Number I 115 Sandpipers, Calidris melanotos, it was similar in length but slightly smaller in bulk.

HE WOODSANDPIPER is an Old World species breeding from Nor- way to Kamchatka and the Kuriles in the Palearctic and parts of the temperate zone, and wintering from Africa and South Asia to Australia. There are only Fig. I WoodSandpiper (I.) in companywith Greater Yellowlegs at PembrokeMarsh Dump, three previously publishedrecords from Bermuda, October 23, 1981. the New World east of the Rocky Moun- Fig.2 WoodSandpiper atPembroke Marsh Dump, Bermuda, October 22. 1981. llShotosl tains. Dziadoz (1980) reported on a Davtd B. wingate. museumspecimen collected on October lar but leaving a whitish shoulder spot pecking at the water surface like a 10, 1907 at Gaines in Orleans County, suggestiveof Spotted Sandpiper, Actitis LesserYellowlegs but it teeteredocca- N.Y.; Bond (1959, 1962), reported on a macMaria. Wings and back dark grey- sionallylike a SpottedSandpiper. It also specimen collected on Barbados West ish brown, with white speckling, inter- tended to feed in among the vegetation Indies on October 16, 1955; and Ken- mediate in shadeand specklingbetween borderingthe pondmore than the other nedy (1977) reported the sighting of a Solitary Sandpiper and Lesser Yellow- shorebirds.The flight was strong with possible Wood Sandpiper near Lees- legs. burstsof jerky wing beatsand closed- ville, Lafourche County, Louisiana on In flight wings all dark above--with wing plummetingwhen it returnedto September 22, 1976. The sight record no white line, and uniform lighter grey- the rain pool. A habit of holdingthe described here is the first from Bermuda ish brown below. Rump white, the de- wings raised briefly before take-off and fits the general pattern of late Sep- marcation between dark back and white madeit possibleto see the underwing tember/October occurrences. rump beginning abruptly in line with patternclearly. The flight call was ex- We are grateful to Sgt. Paul Farrell of rear edge of wing. Five distinct black actly as describedin Europeanfield the Bermuda Police Force for the loan tail bands on outer half of tail. In be- guides:a very distinctivehigh pitched of a telephoto lens. haviour the bird fed by walking and pit-it-it. When flying with Pectoral LITERATURE CITED

BOND J. 1959 and 1962. Fourth and ]Vow Available seventh supplements to the checklist of birds of the West indies ½1956, 1962). Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadel- phia. Pelagic Birds in the Gulf of Maine DZIADOZ, V. 1980. Am. Birds' 34:231. with noteson the identificationof 28 speciesof westernNorth KENNEDY, R. 1977. Am. Birds 31:139. Atlantic pelagics --'Corncrake', Ord Road, WarwicL Parish, Bermuda (Amos), and Davis W. Finch, William C. Russelland Edward V. Thompson Bermuda Government Aquarium and Museum, P.O. Box 145, AVAILABLEEBOM AMEBICAN BIBDS, 950 THIBD AVE., NEW YOBK, Flatts 3, Bermuda (Wingate). N.Y. 10022 $3.00 Post Paid

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116 AmericanBirds, January-February1983