Dear All,
Something interesting from Thika Settling Ponds on Sunday, where Nigel
Hunter and I watched a bird behaving like a Phalarope, swimming around
in circles in deep water, pecking things it was disturbing from the
surface.

Now attached are four images, three are non-breeding Wilson’s
Phalaropes, one is the bird at Thika. The thing is which one of the
four images do you think could be the bird at Thika.

Having decided that, how would you separate a Wilson’s Phalarope from
a Marsh Sandpiper that just had a notion to play Phalarope for a day?

This is quite a serious conundrum and I wonder how the South Africans
identify a bird on the water, where legs and rump pattern are not
visible, and safely separate a Marsh Sandpiper from a Wilson’s
Phalarope?

Research into the literature, even those devoted to shorebirds, has
not helped in the slightest! Please advise what your feelings are on
this,

Best for now
Brian