Well, I did say back on Thursday that I could be completely wrong about the ID of the peep/stint/? sandpiper I observed at Conneaut on Wednesday 8/19.  None of the many and varied photos are diagnostic for a little stint, that much is certain now.  The photos I viewed Wednesday night didn't include the one (photo "4") on the current Bill Norton web page.  This photo does clearly show webbing on one foot.  On my computer, I can't see obvious webbing on the other photos.  One plumage character visible on a number of photos that makes me scratch my head is the definite white lines/braces on the mantle and upper scaps.  This was even more obvious on the live bird in comparison to other juv. semipalmated sandpipers (SESA) there that day.  In 19 years of studying shorebirds at very close range at Conneaut, I haven't seen a juv. SESA that looked like that.  I can't find a photo of one like that either.  Enough about the photos...........Now a couple
 things that were not right for SESA--the feeding behavior was unlike any SESA I've ever seen, with lots of frenetic walking around while pecking and a consistently tilted posture; the flight call was higher-pitched, squeaky, and short--I heard the bird call 3 different times during the day when it flushed, and again this call did not match any SESA call I've ever heard.  Also the oddball sandpiper associated with least sandpipers and semipalmated plovers at times while feeding; much of the time it fed by itself, and it rarely hung with the SESAs.  A couple times I observed the oddball being chased off by SESAs defending their little feeding territories, much like they chase off least sandpipers.  So that's my current take on the bird in question.  A remote possibility is a hybrid of some sort, but from what I know there have been very few confirmed records of hybrid shorebirds and none involved peeps/stints.  There's still a lot that I don't know
 about shorebirds, I'm still trying to learn more about birds every day, and I make mistakes like every other human on this planet.  Later, Craig




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