Spotted Sandpiper

On Saturday July 30th a Spotted Sandpiper was discovered in the Netherlands, just south of Bergen op Zoom, the first (?) ever for our country! At first the bird is far away, but soon the bird can be observed more closely and it is confirmed: our first Spotted Sandpiper in summer plumage! Unfortunately I am at the other side of the country. On Sunday morning the news is good: the bird is still present. In the evening as I drive back home, I decide to take a detour and pay a visit to this bird. It proves to be quite a drive and I arrive around 20:30, about an hour before sunset. Luckily there are still birders and even more importunately: the Spotted Sandpiper is also still present! A new lifer!

The bird is foraging along the edge of the water together with several Common Sandpipers. Apart from its plumage, the behaviour is also different and the bird is jumping several times to catch insects. A Sparrowhawk alerts the birds, but they continue as normal very soon after it flew past. As the sun sets, I return to the car and continue the drive home, satisfied with the new bird on the list. In hindsight it was a very good decision: the bird was not found again the next day… Still is leaves about 300 birders very happy here in the Netherlands!

Below is a picture from waarneming.nl showing the bird when it was close enough to take some good photos (this one is by Jaco Walhout). Mine are very poor record shots due to the poor light and long distance.

Spotted Sandpiper (by Jaco Walhout)