Mystery Bird: Sanderling, Calidris alba

great shot (I love seeing between the layers of feathers and the colors, etc), but I have NO idea.

I think it may be a Sanderling.
The reddish head and reddish spotting in the upper wing areas
are what draw me to this id. Love the photo! Can't wait to find out what it is!

I think it may be a Sanderling.
The reddish head and reddish spotting in the upper wing areas
are what draw me to this id. Love the photo! Can't wait to find out what it is!

I think it's a sanderling, based on the colors in the feathers on its back and the snowy white belly.

Well, May 9 is betwixt and between for breeding plumage. It would be nice to see an eye stripe, the bill, the legs and how far up that white notch goes on the shoulder. The back plumage is richly colored like maybe a juvenile turnstone and there does appear to be a light band across the upper breast.

This is clearly a Sanderling. The clean white breast rules out Western Sandpiper, which should have rufous in the coverts, and the rufous in the coverts of a Least Sandpiper occur as edgings. In this bird, the edges are white, and the rufous occurs in the middle of the feather. A Dunlin would have a black belly patch visible at this date, as well as a white head with gray streaking, not rufous. A Turnstone would show plenty of rufous, but the feathers should be solid, not patterned as here. Red-necked and Little Stints should have rufous edgings on the tertials, just above the wing feathers.
Great shot!

I love this photo for its clarity and layers of feathers. The colors beneath are always surprising. But the best I can say is this is some kind of shorebird. Cannot see legs or bill or other things that might clue me in.
Glad you asked!

N.B. to psweet: You should (could?) be a teacher! (Made me get out "The Shorebirds" for review.)