Tringa incana

This morning I headed out to the north spit of Humboldt Bay to bird the jetty, a very productive area of Humboldt County offering unique sandpipers and seabirds. Trips to the jetty are always fruitful. Not only did I pick up two unusual sandpipers, I saw dolphins and sea lions swimming close by. And then, to top it off, a massive gray whale surfaced right between the north and south jetties, not 100 yards away from me! It was amazing.

Between my trip out to the jetty and a quick swing through the Arcata Bottoms, I managed decent shots of four(!) different sandpipers not yet listed for the BlipBigYear challenge, three of which I've never even blipped before. How does one choose??? Oh, the continued agony of too many awesome bird pictures to choose from!

The Wandering Tattler wins it and here's why. It's only the second time I've seen it (the first time was at the same jetty several years ago) and it's pretty shy--I have no idea when I'll see it again. The species breeds along mountain streams in Alaska and northwest Canada, so it can only be seen by us lower-48-ers while they are wintering here. And even though it lives here more than half the year, it does tend to, well, wander. It's just not the easiest bird to see. So happy was I then to stumble upon this one, napping on one of the massive concrete pylons that lines the jetty.

The other three contenders, unblipped and/or unclaimed for the Big Year list:

(1) Turner of stones, jetty denizen: Black Turnstone, Arenaria melanocephala

(2) The oddity, a 'piper uncommon on the rocks: Spotted Sandpiper, Actitis macularius

(3) The lesser of two, but only by bill length: Lesser Yellowlegs, Tringa flavipes

...Plus another look at the Wandering Tattler: Awake on one leg