Obelix wrote:
Hi everyone. Saw this one in KNP during April 2008 close to Olifants Camp happily feeding away in the mud all on its own. We're thinking Wood Sandpiper, but we're having trouble with the Sandpipers more often than not and in some of the photos it looks more like a Green Sandpiper.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Obelix, lets look at it and try to eliminate some options.
Contenders:
Common Sandpiper
Green Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Common Greenshank
Lesser Yellowlegs (highly unlikely due to distribution and recordings)
Greater Yellowlegs (highly unlikely due to distribution and recordings)
Marsh Sandpiper
1. The striped throat and breast and lack of white shoulder patch rules out Common Sandpiper.
2. Yellow legs, prominent supercilium (brow) extending to the back of the head rules out Green Sandpiper, Common Greenshank and Marsh Sandpiper (which also has a long and more slender bill).
3. The wings not projecting past the tail and being highly unlikely due to distribution and recordings rules out Lesser Yellowlegs and Greater Yellowlegs.
It only leaves one contender. One with yellow legs, lesser streaked breast, brown upper parts, long white supercilium(Sasol mentions it as eye-stripe which I battle to agree with and would rather think that it has a dark eye-stripe instead) and wings not projecting past the tail. And that is Marsh Sandpiper.
Sometimes by ways of elimination, you will find the only way of id'ing something like this bird.
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. I guess the lack of white terminal spots that normally give Wood sandpipers their signature pattern didn't help much here... non-breeding individuals often loose all white markings on the upper parts. (And then this bird went and stuck cammo all over his bill to confuse you further! 
)
). 
