Birds in Nature - images of wild birds by Richard Ditch

Subject: Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Tryngites subruficollis)
Place: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Date: September 22, 2002
Equipment: Nikon N90S, Nikkor AF-S 300/2.8 & TC20E (600/5.6 equiv.), monopod from car window
Film: Fujichrome Sensia 100
Exposure: aperture priority matrix metered
Scan: Minolta Dimage, severe crop - about 15% of original frame used

Commentary: Discovered by Roy Jones at a sod farm near Scottsdale on the morning of Sunday, September 22. I drove there immediately upon receiving the alert. I missed the bird by less than 2 minutes, and spent the next 2 hours trying to relocate it. About 2 hours after I gave up it was found again, and I got there in time to see it briefly before it moved to another part of the sod farm. Over the following 2 days it was hard to find and only a couple of birders were lucky to see it.

This is an extremely rare species for Arizona, but another one was found about 10 days previously about 120 miles southwest of Scottsdale west of Gila Bend. That bird caused quite a stir, with many birders looking but only a few getting to see it.