A update on waders from SARBN, and a delayed MEGA ALERT

[Garret Skead]

Hi everyone

I'll try to keep this as brief as possible.

The current status quo of the bird reported as a Dunlin candidate at St Lucia, KZN:

• The evidence is lacking to confirm the bird as a Dunlin.
• There are many opinions now that the bird photographed standing in a roost is actually a Curlew Sandpiper (and this refers to the original sighting, and the views of the bird yesterday afternoon).
• There is no flight shot of the bird in question. The flight shots shared on the KZN rare bird group were zoomed in from a photo taken of a large group of waders in flight the following day, and seems to include Common Ringed Plovers and Little Stints, both which show a dark rump (like a Dunlin). This has led to confusion on the ID, and made it seem more simple than it has subsequently proven to be. A flight shot should be a fantastic asset in confirming the ID, noting the significant difference in separating Curlew Sandpiper (white rump) and Dunlin (dark rump) when they are at rest. The candidate bird has never yet been definitively photographed in flight, even yesterday, and therefore we do not have this information available to us.
• There has been no positive update yet on the bird today.
• From the viewpoint of SARBN, the status of the Dunlin candidate should be regarded as UNCONFIRMED. Potential twitchers must please take this into account.

Secondly, on close examination of the photos of the bird reported yesterday as a Lesser Yellowlegs at Geelbek hide, West Coast National Park, it appears that the bird is actually a WILSON'S PHALAROPE, which is still a subregion mega. The bird was seen yesterday at 15:00 on the right hand side mudflats from the first / original Geelbek hide. We will need to do a careful audit of the original photographs to ascertain whether there was ever a Lesser Yellowlegs this season (watch this space - I'll review the available evidence dating back the original discovery which was reported as a Yellowlegs).

Thank you to Joshua Olszewski for noticing this error in the photograph I sent yesterday and getting in touch with me!

Kind regards

Garret