Looking forward to South America.

Today we travel to South America. We will be looking for waders in Brazil and Peru.

In Brazil we will see the first Southern Lapwings of our quest, we may even see them before we disembark the plane at São Paulo airport they are so common. The best wader watching though will be when we travel to the south of the country to see some of the southern migrants such as Rufous-chested Dotterel and Two-banded Plover. Our toughest bird in Brazil is going to be Pied Lapwing, we will be visiting just on the very edge of their range where they are really scarce.

Southern Lapwing the commonest and most conspicuous wader by far in Brazil

For us the trip to Peru will be much more exciting though as we have never been there before, we are expecting to see several species we haven't seen before not just in Wader Quest but ever. Andean specialities like the lapwing and avocet are in our sights and of course the cherry on the cake Diademed Sandpiper-Plover.

Non-breeding Rufous-chested Dotterel to be found in south Brazil.

We are hoping that the Blackish Oystercatchers there will be less difficult to catch up with than their cousins the American Black Oystercatcher up north and that we'll be able to get some decent photographs this time.

White-backed Stilt, the southern version of Black-necked should be seen in Brazil.

In the Andes there are a number of snipe species, some we will not have the opportunity to even look for, but we should be able to catch up with one or two of these cryptic species with the help of our friend and guide Renzo Zeppelli. In Brazil, on this trip we should see South American Snipe without too much difficulty, but Giant Snipe will have to wait for next time if we can fit it in. The South American Painted Snipe will be looked for, but it is much more likely to be around when we revisit in October.

Collared Plover relatively common in Brazil

We also hope to see our first seedsnipes there, these funny looking birds look much more like grouse than waders and like the jacanas don't somehow seem to fit into the group, but there they are, large as life on the list and so it is our duty to try and see them.

Tawny-throated Dotterel, possible in both countries.

This is going to be the toughest birding we have done to date and has plenty of potential to produce our first disappointments, so wish us luck and we'll try to blog as often as we can to keep you up to date.

Eurasian Stone Curlew at Weeting, WQ number 96.

Just to mop up the last of the UK breeding waders we needed, Elis and I shot up to the Norfolk Naturalist Trust reserve at Weeting in Norfolk, a reserve that is primarily set up to protect breeding Eurasian Stone Curlews.

Weeting NNT reserve.

We were informed that they were showing well, but of course when we got to the hide one had gone completely out of sight down the hill over the horizon half way down the field, the other was sitting on a nest just at the horizon of the field a very long way out.

The sitting bird's head is just visible in this picture.

With a scope it was possible to make out the head of the sitting bird, with its yellow bill and eye (when it was open).

OK here's a clue!

We decided to give the birds some time to be more active and left to go to Lakenheath RSPB reserve nearby. Needless to say when we left the other bird returned and they had a change over at the nest, both birds being visible and standing up, even the colour rings could be seen apparently! When we returned later there was a second bird standing near the nest site, but before Elis' camera could be swung into action, it was gone, down the hill and our of sight.

We heard today that there is a project being considered to build 5,000 new homes near Thetford in Norfolk, very close to a breeding site of Eurasian Stone Curlews. The conservationists are arguing that birds breed up to 2.5 km from the core site, but the developers claim that there is no evidence to this end has been accepted by a judge. There is a buffer zone set up around breeding Stone Curlews of 1.5km; the conservationists claim this is insufficient.

Waders really are being squeezed from all directions, not just on the far away intertidal mudflats of Asia, but right here in our own back yard in pastoral England.

Red-necked Phalarope

Finally today got a chance to get away and we took the opportunity to whizz over to Gloucestershire late in the afternoon. It was a lovely sunny afternoon with plenty of birds about, but the target of course, at the Coombe Hill Nature Reserve, was Red-necked Phalarope.

When we got to the spot where the phalarope had been residing for the last few days, we were relieved to see a female summer plumaged bird. We were really happy to have seen it for the Wader Quest list naturally but we only allowed ourselves a 'low five' as opposed to the customary 'high five' as the bird was so far away. Nevertheless, it was species number 95 for Wader Quest.

Getting even a record shot was going to be difficult. But with the full telephoto lens and some fancy 'developing' back at home, we did get this record of our sighting.

We wondered about the lack of photos of this bird on the internet, having now seen it it is clear why there are none. Other waders seen were Eurasian Oystercatcher, Common Redshank (in the picture with the phalarope above) and Eurasian Curlew.

Spring fever.

We haven't been able to get out and about much this last week due to family commitments so today we were really pleased to hear Cuckoo and see Common Whitethroat for the fist time this year. There were also several singing Sedge Warblers.

Other evidence that spring is with us were the lapwings in full display and song, the swallows and a single swift swooping over the pools. An amazing Dunnock was singing its heart out...

ducklings were being led to the water...

Coots were nest building...

and apple blossom was glorious in the late afternoon sunshine. Oh! And it was warm too!

As we left, we had this pike pointed out to us in the old canal near the car park.

'Western' and 'Eastern' Willet? What's that all about?

Willet Tringa semipalmata. Formerly in a genus of it's own Catoptrophorus and originally described as Scolopax semipalmata by Gmelin in 1789.

'Eastern' Willet in breeding plumage: Connecticut, May 2012

'Eastern ' Willet showing all willets' classic wing pattern: Connecticut,
USA May 2012.

Willet has traditionally been considered a single species and indeed still is officially and by most people. The fact that the two subspecies were possibly contenders for splitting came to my notice when Elis and I found the first documented record of the species in the state of São Paulo. During research for the article that we wrote about the event I discovered that the winter range of the two forms is little understood and not at all well known.

'Western ' Willet: São Paulo, Brazil, March 2011.

The winter range of 'Eastern' is described in volume 3 of the Handbook of the Birds of the World (del Hoyo et al 1996) as being along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the USA south to Brazil.That of the 'Western' is described as coastal south USA to north South America mainly on the pacific coast, south to Chile. This obviously set my mind thinking; in theory this bird we found should then be an 'Eastern' bird, but was it? I read on to confirm this theory in my own mind.

It was then in The Shorebird guide (O'Brien et al 2006) that I read "may represent full species" and my interest was piqued still further, it now became paramount to discover which (sub)species I had seen. I read what this tome had to say about the winter ranges. It stated that the winter range of 'Eastern' was "poorly known but apparently centred in east South America, particularly Brazil; some may winter in Paraguay (surely he means Uruguay?) Argentina and north South America". Even more weight then to the idea of ours being 'Eastern'. The text also goes on to say that 'Eastern' has apparently not been documented in the USA in winter. His explanation of the wintering range of 'Western' implies that the birds are mainly on the pacific side of South America as well as Cenral America, the Caribbean and coastal USA, but does conclude with; "Winter range in South America somewhat conjectural". I now really needed to identify the form I had seen.

Despite the range suggestion from the literature, our bird did not seem to fit into the description widely given for 'Eastern'. The bill of our bird fitted much more into the long, tapering and slightly up-curved description of 'Western' than the shorter. blunter, thicker bill of 'Eastern'. O'Brien also mentioned that the bill of 'Eastern' is often pinkish brown at the base as opposed to steely blue in 'Western'. Added to this our bird was pale grey (whereas 'Eastern' is browner on the upperparts) and looked attenuated as in 'Western' with a relatively elongated rear end and the legs appeared rangey. What we had was a 'Western' Willet I was sure.


We were also present when two birds dropped-in to a marsh in Rio Grande do Sul. These birds appeared to be 'Eastern' Willets. Local guide, ornithologist and researcher  Rafael Dias, who we were with at the time, thought this interesting and thought that the complex wintering situation of these birds would probably be worth a paper. Recently I have been invited to contribute to a paper about Willet occurences and the (sub)specific identification of them in the south Brazil,Uruguay and Argentina region by Rafael and a number of erudite South American ornithologists; they have at least been able to prove that both 'Eastern' and 'Western' Willet can and do occur on the Atlantic coast of Southern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.

Two 'Eastern" Willets: Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil June 2011

Compare with the first picture. These birds are browner with shorter stubbier 

bills that are pinkish at the base, they also appear quite 'blunt' at the back end.

At the extreme ends of the scale 'Eastern' and 'Western' Willet are quite different particularly in breeding plumage, but as usual it is possible to find individuals that don't seem to fit either taxa, they fall somewhere in the middle or seem to have a mixture of features. Whether this is due to interbreeding, a clinal change or simply means the features are not 100% reliable, who knows? The bird below, by geography and timing, must be an 'Eastern' Willet, it was holding territory on the Connecticut coast. It is dark and well marked on the breast and the bill base is pinkish. But, the bill looks slightly up-curved to me and the back end of the bird looks decidedly attenuated. So are these reliable features in the field? People's perception of these features can be quite different.

'Eastern' Willet: Connecticut, USA May 2012

Here's another 'Eastern' this time in Texas. The plumage and bill all look good but what about this back-end feature, this too looks attenuated to me.

'Eastern' Willet: Texas, USA, April 2013.

This is a 'Western' Willet, very little marking on the breast and a blue based finer tapering bill that is slightly up-curved.

'Western' Willet: Texas, USA April 2013

But what about this one? Bill shape, breast and flank markings good for 'Western'; apparently rather blunt at the back end and pinky bill base good for 'Eastern'. This is rather difficult, to be sure I think it best to see them on their breeding grounds!

'Eastern' or 'Western' Willet? I think 'Western': Texas USA April 2013

According to several references, winter plumage 'Eastern' Willet does not occur in the USA, so if this is the case you can be sure that winter birds, like this one below taken in Florida are all going to be 'Western' Willet, but, apart from the base colour this bill doesn't look that much different from the bill of the breeding 'Eastern' bird below it and the upperparts are quite brownish in my view.

'Eastern' Willet: Connecticut, USA, May 2012.

There may or may not be a case for splitting these forms of Willet, and it may be rather less simple to do in the field than the literature may suggest, but it certainly makes looking at Willets much more interesting!

Sniping

Thus far on Wader Quest's travels we have come across four species of Snipe. These birds are notoriously hard to tell apart so for fun we have put them together here so you can see what differences you can find!

Wader Quest species number 1: Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) UK

Wader Quest species number 72: Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata) USA.

Wader Quest species number 42: Pintail Snipe (Gallinago stenura) Thailand

Wader Quest species number 82: Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus) UK

Texas and Louisiana summary.

A short one week trip to Texas and Louisiana was designed to catch up with some of the arctic breeding waders that pass through the USA on their way north form the Neotropics. There are two flyways involved here, the Mississippi Americas and Atlantic Americas.

Short-billed Dowitchers

The other purpose of the trip was to talk to members of the Louisiana Ornithological Society as part of our awareness raising campaign.

We gave a presentation on the Saturday evening to a packed hall of some 70 members of the LOS. The presentation started by talking about the importance of the inter-tidal zones of the world stressing how they are greatly threatened by the activities of mankind but yet their plight is little known or understood by the vast majority of people, even among birders, unlike that of the rainforests around the world, the Amazon in particular.

We then went on to talk about the Spoon-billed Sandpiper giving a brief outline of its life history and migration and delving into some of the problems the species is facing in each section of its yearly migration cycle. Once we had established the need for a captive breeding programme we then went on to explain in basic terms how it functions and that it is primarily a safety net for the species should extinction on the wild occur.

Part of the audience

After this we talked about Wader Quest and some of the exciting waders we have seen around the world on our various trips, emphasising those that are endangered or threatened.

White-faced Plover in Thailand

We received donations for the WWT captive breeding programme of US$152.00 from the audience which has been added to our just giving page.

 The birds!

There were 11 target species that we felt we needed to see on this trip and we were unlikely to see them elsewhere, or it would save us some time locating them at other locations. We were successful in recording all 11 species in this order.

WQ species 83: Upland Sandpiper.

WQ species 84: Semipalmated Sandpiper

WQ species 85: Eastern Willet

WQ species 86: Solitary Sandpiper

WQ species 87: Pectoral Sandpiper

WQ species 88: American Golden Plover

WQ species 89: Wilson's Phalarope

WQ species 90: Buff-breasted Sandpiper

WQ species 91: Hudsonian Godwit

WQ species 92: Baird's Sandpiper

WQ species 93: American Oystercatcher