Restart Bird Identification Expert

What was the TAIL SHAPE of the Sandpiper-like bird with Pointed-Wings you saw in North Dakota?



Killdeer: Large banded plover, brown upperparts and white underparts, two distinct black bands cross upper breast. White stripes on wings are visible in flight. Tail and rump show rust-brown in flight. Black bill, pink-brown legs and feet. Wavering, erratic flight, capable of swift, direct flight.
Piping Plover: Small, pale sand-colored plover, showy black bands on head, neck. White upertail with white-edged black tip. Short bill has bright orange base and black tip. Legs are bright orange. Eats fly larvae, beetles, crustaceans and marine worms. Feeds higher on the beach than other plovers.
Mountain Plover: Medium-sized plover with pale brown upperparts, white underparts, and brown sides. Head has brown cap, white face, and dark eyestripe. The upperwings are brown with black edges and white bars; underwings are white. Tail is brown-black with white edges. Legs and feet are pale gray.
Willet: Large sandpiper with mottled gray-brown upperparts, white rump and lightly streaked and barred white underparts. Broad white stripes on black wings are visible in flight. Tail is white with dark brown tip. Legs are blue-gray. Flight is short and low, alternates rapid wing beats with glides.
Lesser Yellowlegs: Large sandpiper with gray and black mottled upperparts, white underparts and streaked upper breast and sides. Bill is straight and uniformly dark gray. White lower rump and dark-barred tail are visible in flight. Legs are long and yellow. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Eskimo Curlew: Small curlew, brown mottled upperparts, buff underparts streaked and mottled brown, and pale cinnamon wing linings. Bill is moderately short, not as strongly curved as similar curlews. Crown has two dark stripes. Wings noticeably long on perched bird. Last sighted in Canada in 1982.
Ruddy Turnstone: Medium sandpiper, red-brown upperparts, white rump and underparts. Face and breast are black-marked. Bill is short, dark, and slightly upturned. Wings have a unique brown, black, and white pattern visible in flight. Tail is white with black terminal band. Legs and feet are orange.
Red Knot: Medium-sized sandpiper with black, brown and gray scaled upperparts, red-brown face, neck, breast and sides, and white lower belly. Wings show white bars in flight. Bill is black and slightly curved. Eats insects, larvae, mollusks and crabs. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Western Sandpiper: Small sandpiper, chestnut-brown, scaled upperparts, white underparts dotted with rows of dark chevrons. Head streaked with brown wash on face. Bill is dark and decurved at tip. Thin white stripes visible on dark wings in flight. Black legs and feet, partial webbing between toes.
Curlew Sandpiper: Medium-sized sandpiper with mottled rufous, white, and black upperparts. Head, neck and breast are a rich rufous while vent, undertail coverts and underwings are white. Black bill is long and slightly decurved. The legs and feet are black. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Buff-breasted Sandpiper: Medium sandpiper, buff wash over entire body except for white vent. Upperparts are black-spotted and streaked, underparts are slightly scaled. Shows white wing linings in flight. Has white eye-ring and black bill. Legs are yellow. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Ruff: Large sandpiper with variably-colored frilly tufts on the neck that ranges from black to rufous to white to speckled and bared. Female lacks ruff. Head is orange-brown and the belly is white. Bill is orange with dark, drooped tip. Orange-yellow legs. Low, direct flight with rapid wing beats.
Long-billed Dowitcher: Large, stocky sandpiper with dark, mottled upperparts, dark cap and eyestripe, short white eyebrow, and red-brown underparts with lightly barred flanks. Bill is long, dark, and dagger like. Legs and feet are yellow-green. Swift direct flight, rapid wing beats.
Wilson's Snipe: Medium sandpiper, brown and black mottled upperparts, buff stripes on back. White underparts, dark bars on sides, flanks. Heavily streaked head, neck, breast. Yellow-green legs, feet. Formerly considered a subspecies of the Common Snipe, which has 14 tail feathers to the Wilson's 16.
Common Snipe: Longest-billed of all snipes, best identified by broad white stripe at base of underwing. Upperparts cryptically colored with brown and yellow-brown streaks of many different shades. Underparts white but strongly suffused with orange wash, heavily barred and streaked with dark brown.
Wilson's Phalarope: Medium sandpiper, gray-brown upperparts, red-brown streaks on back, shoulders. White underparts with red-brown markings on upper sides. Gray crown, white face, black eye-line that continues down neck. Black needle-like bill. Gray wings with dark flight feathers. White tail, rump.
Red-necked Phalarope: Medium sandpiper with brown-striped dark gray back, mottled gray breast, and white throat and belly. Head, nape, and flanks are gray. Neck and upper breast are rust-brown. Bill is thin and black. Flight is swift and swallowlike with rapid wing beats, quick movements, and turns.
Red Phalarope: Medium-sized sandpiper with dark gray upperparts and rufous neck and underparts. Head has white face, black cap, and a thick, straight, yellow bill with black tip. Feeds on small fish, insects and aquatic invertebrates. Flight is swift and direct with rapid wing beats.
 
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