[obol] Albino WESA

[fyshjpsy at comcast.net]

Thanks to all who have chipped in regarding this bird. I hope someone relocates it before it becomes Falcon Chow. Here are a few more notes regarding the bird, based on watching it for a little over an hour tuesday as it foraged, flew and rested on the mud flat.
 
I know no compelling reason to believe this is not a Western Sandpiper. Unfortunately the pictures already posted were the meager best I was able to get. The bird seemed to be resting with its bill tucked more persistently than were the other members of the flock with which it associated. It never appeared to respond aggressively in return to aggression by other Western Sandpipers. Is that behavior perhaps associated with a submissive bird with higher-than-normal energy costs, with both conditions being related to albinism in a flock?  Although slightly longer in body length and width the bird’s proportions appeared correct for Western Sandpiper, as did the bill and leg length. Comparing the albino to other Western Sandpipers in flight, the slightly larger body and the wider, longer wings, ~ 1” in each dimension, were fairly easy to see. The bill didn’t seem as distinctly pink as the legs looked, perhaps due to staining or mud? Overall, this bird appeared to me as just a little lar
ger than every other Western Sandpiper in the flock; that may fit Dave Lauten’s suggestion of multiple mutations. I suppose it could suggest albinism somehow benefited growth to this point, but that seems quite a stretch.     
 
Neil Holcomb
Bandon, OR
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