The fairly long neck, pot belly, short and slightly decurved bill, and scaly upperparts readily suggest that our mystery bird (plate 217 on page 566) is a Calidris wader, or perhaps a Ruff Philomachus pugnax. Discerning the size of a lone wader in the field, let alone from a photograph, is more than often fraught with difficulties. The methodical observer would do well to try to age the bird. We h
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