Stilt Sandpiper - Calidris himantopus
In the morning of 24 July 1998, Mart Janse was birding at the Blauwe Kamer, a marshy nature reserve between Rhenen and Wageningen. There he discovered between two Dunlins a shorebird which he thought it could be something rare, but was not very sure. Happily he met good old Aart Vink, who identified the bird almost instantly as a Stilt Sandpiper Calidris himantopus. At noon the first birders arrived, but by then the bird had moved more in the centre of the reserve and was only visible from a distance from at least 300 meters. However, the wardens of the reserve were so friendly to organize an excursion into the area. Then (15:00 hours) the bird was seen well enough by bout 100 birders. It disappeared at 18:30 just before the start of the second excursion.
24 July 1998, Blauwe Kamer, Rhenen Gld; © Arnoud van den Berg.
At close range, the bird proved to be an adult summer moulting into winter plumage. Again it was shown, the summer months are best for rare waders in the Netherlands.
This the first record of this rare North American wader in the Netherlands (Dutch Birding 21(6): 333-336, 1999).
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