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Mystery piper



     The birth of my granddaughter in Birmingham and the uncertainty of her
timing knocked me out of participating in the weekend spring migration
counts.  While I was in Birmingham I did a little walking and looking--the
best bird was a yellow-crowned night-heron on Shades Creek.
     I have been enjoying my morning walks in spite the weekend
dislocations.  This morning while I was walking the edge of the King's
Grant golf course (northern Fayetteville), I stopped to sort out swallows
(possible no. rough-winged) when a small piper showed up.  While I watched,
it made three or four circuits of the pond, landing once on a log too far
away for me to make an id with 8x binoculars.  It flew low over the water,
so I got reasonably good looks at its topside.  It had white wing-stripes
similar to those on a kildeer but its rump and tail had a dark center and
white sides, similar to what I would expect on a least sandpiper.  It
looked to be only slightly larger than the swallows and, when a red-winged
blackbird attacked it, driving it onto the surface of the pond, I could see
that the underside was white.  The r-w was noticeably larger than piper.
The only other shorebirds present were kildeer.
     My best guess is least sandpiper, but I could use some help on this
one.  The date seems late for a least.  Any thoughts?

Bob

--------------------------------------------------
Robert C. Perkins, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Methodist College, Fayetteville, NC 28311
910-630-7037     rperkins@methodist.edu