Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla), Dome Valley Feedlot, Yuma County

This Semipalmated Sandpiper was found and photographed by Henry Detwiler on 08 July 2016

A rare, but regular, fall transient in Arizona, generally rarer in western Arizona than farther east.

Semipalmated Sandpiper always shows black legs and a short, stout, straight bill without any droop to the tip, helping to separate it from Western Sandpiper in any plumage. In alternate plumage, which this bird is in, the lack of rusty feathering in the crown and in the back also help to separate it from Western. Also in this plumage, the spotting/streaking on the underparts of Semipalmated is restricted to the breast and upper flanks, with maybe a streak or two present on the mid-flanks. Western at this season shows dense black spotting/streaking on the breast, which extends down the flanks, often as large black chevrons, nearly to the undertail. Westerns usually look a bit more attenuated in the tail/wing tips area than Semipalmated.

08 July 2016, photo by Henry Detwiler

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