Curlew Sandpipers? Po Delta Italy

[sue-o]

If I should have put this in beginner bird id, I apologize to all experts who will consider this post elementary.
I have a very bad photo of what I think has to be Curlew Sandpipers. The location was the Pineta Staggioi area of the Po Delta (Marina Romea). There are spots on the undertail coverts and I wondered if those would be the first change from winter to summer plumage. Also, I'm not sure of id because in real life, these birds seemed to have more curve to the bill than the photos show and they seemed larger than 20 centimeters.This won't be a lifer for me, but I didn't want to list them on my Po list if I'm wrong about the id. They were very wary and I flushed a group of three twice, before I saw them. I was too slow to take in the whole bird as it flew. Instead of looking where I should have (the rump, wings), I looked at the head and bill. I was caught off guard and everything was too fast for me. I happened to tip-toe to this sand bank and got these at a long distance before they also took off. I can't think what they might be besides CS, but I just want to be sure.
Thank you for help and tips. Colin, I know the biggest tip is to GET A SCOPE!;)
Actually, I don't think one would have helped here, things were too fast.
Sue

[Colin Key]

Hi Sue,

Not very good photos (:err:) and cannot see any plumage detail but based on overall structure, especially size and shape of bill I would say yes, these are "Curlew Sands". Were there any Dunlin around to compare them to size-wise?

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/0C0J2519.jpg


Colin

[sue-o]

Hi Colin,
I know, a really bad shot; but if I had one that looked like yours, I wouldn't have posted it, because I wouldn't have needed help. ;) That is a great photo. I was hoping someone might be able to tell by structure, as you did. Thanks. I will put Curlew Sandpiper on the Po list. I just didn't want to mislead incase it gets googled. There was nothing else close by. I saw a Redshank in the scrub as I walked to this point. It looked very small; that's why I thought these were bigger than a C. Sand was supposed to be.
What month was your picture taken in? Did you take it through a scope?
Sue

[Colin Key]

Hello Sue,

This photo was taken on 6th September last year. It shows an adult with the last remnants of breeding (reddish) plumage. It also shows the dark spotting on the undertail coverts which is a feature you mentioned in your birds and which I forget to refer to.

The photo was taken with a DSLR and a 500mm lens plus x1.4 teleconverter (700mm). I gave up with "digiscoping" (point & shoot digital camera through a telescope) a couple of years ago - for "record" shots it can be useful, but from the purely photographic point of view a waste of time.

Colin

[AndyB]

Hi sue-o, it is a little difficult to be certain here. Like Colin says, bill shape looks fine but the bird does look large and bulky especially compared to that Redshank(?) to the left of it in your 2nd photo. Keep looking out for them and see if you can get a better photo.

[sue-o]

Hi Andy,
The birds in the first photo are the same species. The Redshank was in a field some distance from these birds. Sorry for the confusion. I mentioned the Redshank because when I saw it, I couldn't believe how small it appeared.
I am already back in Rome so I won't be able to get better shots. The birds were just too far and were going to keep it that way. I knew at the time I was going to have a problem id-ing from what I was able to get, but I just took the shots anyway. The Redshank shots were worse (even farther), but I saw them in flight several times and got the wings and the red feet hanging beyond the tail. As with a lot of birds in the Med, these would fly before you could get even good bin views. As we walked we could see them flush at a distance and get farther away. I was a bit surprised to see one in particular take off and land on the top of low scrub (several times). I guess he must have wanted to keep a look out. I've only seen them wading or on the sand before.
Sue