Semipalmated Sandpiper

semipalmated sandpiper

The legs are too dark for Least Sandpiper; the hind toe eliminates Sanderling; the primary projection is too short for Baird's/White-rumped; and the bill is too short for Western.
On eBird there is a single record this month of a Western Sandpiper in Becky's area, a handful of Sanderling sightings, and a ton of Semipalmated reports.

I agree it is possibly not a Sanderling as it is slightly out of range, nor is it likely to be a Western Sandpiper as it is a long way out of range for this time of year. When they leave their Alaskan breeding grounds they fly south until they make landfall on the Pacific coast of America where the majority remain. A few follow the coast throught the Gulf of Mexico and back onto the Atlantic coast later in the year. However there are two very similar birds which are very common in that area during late August and September. They are Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) and Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla).

Thanks RobBielawski, But check my wikipedia link a read the page i should be able to say alot about the western sandpiper. If it helps :D

Also its in the same region that a western sandpiper would be in. Not a sanderling.

Look at my wikipedia link on my suggestion there beaks look identical.

A Western Sandpiper has a much longer bill with a curve at the tip, but the Sanderling is the only member of the Calidris family without a hind toe. BTW Western Sandpiper is Calidris mauri as per Clements v6.6. This bird does not appear to have a hind toe, nor a long bill, so is most likely a Sanderling, Calidris alba. Outside breeding plumage some of the Calidris family are considered inseparable.

If it lacks a hind toe, then it's a Sanderling, perhaps you could crop the pictures to less than 1200 pixels and repost so we can view the bird better. The second picture can be cropped to less than 600 pixels as second and subsequent pictures cannot be magnified. We are more interested in the organism itself than the surrounding countryside.