birding...

Don Taylor & Stephen Message are, respectively, the author and illustrator of: Waders of Europe, Asia & North America

Don Taylor writes:

Wader identification has fascinated me right from my early birding years back in the 1950s, when I was fortunate enough to find the attractive and elusive little Jack Snipe wintering on both my local patches - Hampstead Heath and Brent Reservoir. The latter soon provided other identification challenges with sightings of Wood Sandpiper and Ruff. I remember in May 1959 hitchhiking from Hampstead Garden Suburb to that Mecca of sites, Wisbech sewage-farm, to see my first Temminck's Stint.

My interest was strengthened later that same year, when I observed the delightful Red-necked Phalaropes on their breeding grounds in the Outer Hebrides and the confiding Dotterel on the Cairngorms. However, it was probably the two years I spent living beside Lake Ontario, from August 1962 to July 1964, when I had the challenge of identifying the various 'peeps' in their autumn plumages that hooked me completely. Since settling in Kent late in 1964, there have been numbers of opportunities to add further species to my ever expanding list, including such rarities as Sociable Plover in 1968, Buff-breasted Sandpiper in 1977, Terek Sandpiper in 1982, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in 1987 and Oriental Pratincole in 1988.

Leading tours in Europe and farther afield created greater opportunities and I found one of my favourite waders, a Cream-coloured Courser, in Southern Spain in 1979. However, it was on trips specifically planned to add new wader species, with Tony Prater and David Rosair, which really helped us expand our individual wader lists. Three weeks in Argentina and Chile in November 1979 produced another 17 species for me, including my favourite, the Diademed Plover.

I spent a month in Australia and New Zealand in January 2007, when I was able to add another 22 species, including the New Zealand Snipe on Enderby Island, during a Sub-Antarctic cruise. In May 2006 I visited Estonia to see the last of the European waders that had, until then, eluded me - Great Snipe. This was followed by two single species quests in 2008; Japan in March for Amami Woodcock and Thailand in November for the recently re-discovered White-faced Plover. To bring the story right up to date I enjoyed a week with Wirebirds (St Helena Plover) on St Helena in July/August 2009 and am now left with just a dozen more to see around the world, however these may take some time as they include such isolated locations as the Tuamotu and Chatham Islands, as well as four different South American countries for four snipe species.

Mentioning long periods of time, Stephen has had to wait far too long to see this book published, after a lengthy six-year gestation period. It was David Rosair who came up with the idea of illustrating confusing species together and I recommended that he ask Stephen to produce the plates. Sadly, or fortunately from my point of view, when David was unable to continue with the writing, Stephen suggested that I should be asked.

It has been a great pleasure working with him and, after about two years of writing and further painting, we are naturally delighted to see the book finally published and we are pleased with the design work, particularly of the American version.

Stephen remembers, as a 12 year-old living in his home village of Benenden, repeatedly flushing a small dark bird from the village pond.

I noted that it had a white rump, gave a distinctive call and I eventually realised, of course, that it was a Green Sandpiper. Apart from having seen Snipe and Lapwing locally, this wader was effectively my introduction to this fascinating and in many instances highly migratory family. I realised that this meant virtually anything could turn up anywhere creating exciting opportunities. My first ever watercolour of a bird, painted at the age of 10, was indeed a Northern Lapwing, which I presented to my Grandparents. The Lapwing is still one of my top subjects and my favourite wader species.

We hope that many will enjoy the continuing challenge of wader identification; for which I would like to recommend an excellent very recently published tome Shorebirds of the Northern Hemisphere by Richard Chandler, a renowned wader photographer. It is filled with probably half-a-lifetime of his superb photographs to illustrate a detailed text.

There are 91 species of snipe, sandpipers etc. in the family Scolopacidae, according to the IOC; they are:

Eurasian Woodcock Scolopax rusticola
Amami Woodcock Scolopax mira
Javan Woodcock Scolopax saturata
New Guinea Woodcock Scolopax rosenbergii
Bukidnon Woodcock Scolopax bukidnonensis
Sulawesi Woodcock Scolopax celebensis
Moluccan Woodcock Scolopax rochussenii
American Woodcock Scolopax minor

Chatham Snipe Coenocorypha pusilla
New Zealand Snipe Coenocorypha aucklandica

Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus

Solitary Snipe Gallinago solitaria
Latham's Snipe Gallinago hardwickii
Wood Snipe Gallinago nemoricola
Pin-tailed Snipe Gallinago stenura
Swinhoe's Snipe Gallinago megala
African Snipe Gallinago nigripennis
Madagascar Snipe Gallinago macrodactyla
Great Snipe Gallinago media
Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago
Wilson's Snipe Gallinago delicata
South American Snipe Gallinago paraguaiae
Puna Snipe Gallinago andina
Noble Snipe Gallinago nobilis
Giant Snipe Gallinago undulata
Fuegian Snipe Gallinago stricklandii
Andean Snipe Gallinago jamesoni
Imperial Snipe Gallinago imperialis

Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus
Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus scolopaceus
Asian Dowitcher Limnodromus semipalmatus

Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa
Hudsonian Godwit Limosa haemastica
Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica
Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa

Little Curlew Numenius minutus
Eskimo Curlew Numenius borealis
Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus
Bristle-thighed Curlew Numenius tahitiensis
Slender-billed Curlew Numenius tenuirostris
Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata
Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis
Long-billed Curlew Numenius americanus

Upland Sandpiper Bartramia longicauda

Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus
Common Redshank Tringa totanus
Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis
Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia
Nordmann's Greenshank Tringa guttifer
Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca
Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes
Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus
Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria
Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola
Grey-tailed Tattler Tringa brevipes
Wandering Tattler Tringa incana
Willet Tringa semipalmata

Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus

Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos
Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius

Tuamotu Sandpiper Aechmorhynchus parvirostris

Tahiti Sandpiper Prosobonia leucoptera

Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
Black Turnstone Arenaria melanocephala

Surfbird Aphriza virgata

Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris
Red Knot Calidris canutus
Sanderling Calidris alba
Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla
Western Sandpiper Calidris mauri
Red-necked Stint Calidris ruficollis
Little Stint Calidris minuta
Temminck's Stint Calidris temminckii
Long-toed Stint Calidris subminuta
Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla
White-rumped Sandpiper Calidris fuscicollis
Baird's Sandpiper Calidris bairdii
Pectoral Sandpiper Calidris melanotos
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Calidris acuminata
Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea
Purple Sandpiper Calidris maritima
Rock Sandpiper Calidris ptilocnemis
Dunlin Calidris alpina
Stilt Sandpiper Calidris himantopus

Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus

Broad-billed Sandpiper Limicola falcinellus

Buff-breasted Sandpiper Tryngites subruficollis

Ruff Philomachus pugnax

Wilson's Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor
Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus
Red Phalarope Phalaropus fulicarius