One of the most distinctive birds in the world, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper hardly seems like an identification problem, but to pick one out of a flock of stints is really more difficult than you would think. Overall shape and size, color, and behavior are very similar to the stints. The spoon-shaped bill is surprisingly hard to

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper has one of the most striking and unusual bill shapes of any bird, but the function of the odd spoon-shaped bill has never been determined, and I was particularly interested in watching the birds in Thailand for any clues that might help solve this mystery.

My trip to Thailand (4-14 Feb 2010) was a great success, and I’ll be posting some observations, photos, and sketches here over the next few days. The known Spoon-billed Sandpiper site at Pak Thale was very reliable, with several individuals seen each day there, and up to six in view at once (7 and 10

I’ll be in Thailand for the next two weeks, hoping to fulfill a decades-long dream to see Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Like many birders, I have always been fascinated by shorebirds – their subtle and elegant shapes and colors, the identification challenges they present, and most of all by their powers of flight and their long migrations.

minor updates 2 Mar 2010 Identifying female goldeneyes is extremely challenging. Differences are subtle, subjective, and inconsistent, but experienced observers still build up a “template” of expected impressions that allow them to identify the species with confidence. Describing these differences, and identifying individual birds from photos, can be very challenging because the process of identification

Distinguishing Common and Barrow’s Goldeneyes is always a challenge, and particularly so when the bird is a female. One of the most conspicuous and easily judged differences is bill color – Common Goldeneye has a black bill with a small yellowish patch at the tip, while Barrow’s has the bill almost entirely orange-yellow. This works