Update on Mystery Bird

It is, not unexpectedly, a White-rumped Sandpiper.  Nothing exotic and certainly not a year bird. All who have seen the photos agree. The tell-tale field mark, one I wouldn't have thought much about, is the streaking on the flanks. That, with all the other clues, like the slightly down-turned bill, the primaries extending past the tail, is pretty much conclusive. It didn't help that the bird was in molt.

The best thing about this little adventure in identification is that this was, without a doubt, the best and longest look I've ever had at a White-rumped Sandpiper, which are, typically for me, mixed in with peeps at a shimmering distance or else in low light, as the ones I've seen at Whitebog seem to be. Ironically, had we seen this bird from a distance and had we not been able to examine every feather and subtlety of leg color, we would probably have checked it off as a White-rump and gone on our way.

So it looks like I'm going to go this year without seeing a Baird's Sandpiper, invoking Zirlin's Second Law of Birding.