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A Possible Wood Sandpiper in Louisiana

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A Possible Wood Sandpiper in Louisiana p•per. The b•rd teeteredhke a LesserYellow- A Possible Wood legs, pr•or to taking off and when landing •t held the wingsstraight up as doesan Upland Sandpiper in Louisiana Sandpiper(Bartramia longicauda). We did not noticeany unusualwingbeat or flight pattern or hear anyvocalizations. At the time, we could not identify the b•rd by RobertS. Kennedy We knew only that we had neverseen the spe- ciesbefore. The sameday, we consultedseveral referencesdealing with European birds and I examined specimensin the Louisiana State University Museum of Zoology. The bird we Those who read American Birds regularly saw most closely resembled specimensand are familiar with the recent increase of Asiatic descriptionsof the Wood Sandpiper.M. Sp•nd- shorebirdsrecorded in Alaska and along the ler (pers. comm.), who is familiar with the Pacific coast of North America. Gibson and Wood Sandpiper in Alaska, stated that the Byrd (American Birds (1976:877) in their teeteringand wing lifting are frequentlyseen •n spring accounthad so many recordsof these this species. b•rds that they merely listed the species.The White, Williamson, and Emison (Auk dramatic increase of the Wood Sandpiper 1974:175-177) summarized the records of the (Tringa glareola) and the Long-toed Stint Wood Sandpiperin North Americaand G•bson (Calidris subminuta) were well documented. and Byrdhave updated the informationin theJr Daily totalsof the Wood Sandpiperfor someof seasonal reports for the Alaska Region of the western islands in the Aleutians exceeded American Birds. The specieshas apparently 150, a five-fold increaseover the former high never been recorded in North America outside countof 31 in the springof 1975. Despitetheir of Alaska. The occurrence of a Wood Sand- increases,many of the Asiaticshave rarely or piper in coastal Louisiana thousandsof miles never been recorded elsewhere in North outside its normal range would seem odd, America. exceptin light of the increaseof the speciesin At 1000 on Sept. 22, 1976, Robert J. Alaska and recentsightings of otherPalearctic Newman and I saw an unusual shorebird in a birds in Louisiana. Littlefield and Doubleday fresh or slightly brackish barrow pit beside (American Birds: 31, 140) photographedthe Road 3090 about 11 km south of Leesville, first Mongolian Plover (Charadriusmongolus) Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. The bird was in North America outsideof Alaska on 22 April feeding with a Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa 1975 at Grand Isle, Louisiana,just 24 km to melanoleuca)and a LesserYellowlegs (Tringa the northeastof our sighting. A male Ba•kal flavipes) and was similar to them in shape.We Teal (Anasformosa) was shot by a hunter 1.6 watched it for about five minutes with binoc- km westof EnglishLookout near the mouth of ulars at a distance of 25 to 40 meters and the Pearl River in St. TammanyParish, Lom- flushed it several times. Efforts to collect it siana, on November 7, 1974. This record •s failed. apparentlythe fourth for the speciesin the We noticed the following field marks and lower 48 states (Sykes, Auk 1961:441, sum- behavior:1) size slightlysmaller than a Lesser marizes the first three records). Also, two Yellowlegs;2) legsgreenish yellow, about 2/3to Curlew Sandpipers(Calidris ferruginea) were % as long as thoseof the LesserYellowlegs; 3) sightedin Louisianathis fall (seethe Fall 1976 breast streaked and slightly buffy; throat report,Central Southern Region), one less than hghterwith no prominentstreaks; belly, white; two km from where we saw the Wood Sand- 4) wings with no apparent upper wing stripe piper. The origin of the Wood Sandpiperand and their light under-surfacewith no conspic- the Curlew Sandpiperswill never be known, uous markings; 5) tail with narrow but well but if they werefrom Asia, we can ask what •s defined bars for most of its length and with a significant about southeastLouisiana, espe- small but distinct white rump and upper tall- cially the area around Grand Isle, that these coverts; 6) bill dark colored or black with no four speciesshould appear there when they visible markings and similar in shape to but have rarely or neverbeen found elsewhere•n shorter than that of the LesserYellowlegs; 7) North America outsideof Alaska? Surely,the back similarto that of the LesserYellowlegs; 8) probabilityof this happeningby chancewould eyering as large as or larger than that of the be remote. Could the jet stream or someother LesserYellowlegs but not as pronouncedas a atmosphericcondition be involvedsomeway •n SolitarySandpiper's (Tringa solitaria); a white these anomalous records? Additional records l•ne from the eye ring to the bill slightly less and further investigationsmay yield answersto d•stinct than similar line in a Solitary Sand- theseand otherrelated questions. Volume 31, Number 2 139 .
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