A Little Dubius

I could probably have counted the numbers of waders and wildfowl on my fingers and toes this morning (if I was born in Norfolk then almost certainly), but nonetheless some interesting birds were present during my WeBS count at White Sands this morning.

A brace of Whimbrel were not exactly hard to separate from a small flock of Curlew, as both birds called regularly and periodically took small five minute flights as if they knew they had to move but were unsure precisely where they were going.

Hearing in dispatches of a decent fall of Wheatears across the estuary this morning, it was not surprising to find two birds – a female and a probable Greenland male – hopping around the loose boulders at the end of the rivetment.

With my count not exactly taxing me, I decided to use the last thirty minutes to try and scan around for something more unusual. A pair of farmyard ducks was topping the not very impressive list of oddities, until I just caught a couple of small waders creeping across an area of bare earth.

By the time I had pointed my scope towards the area they had taken off, but I soon picked them up through my bins flying straight for me. I initially thought Dunlin, but as the birds veered left and flew twenty yards in front side-on, I could see they were plovers and when I checked the wings for white bars and found they were absent - Little Ringed was confirmed!

Until later.