Easy bird identification question.

dewsbury

This should be an easy question.
My nine year old daughter (Hannah!) and I are trying to identify a bird.

The bird is very common and we see it in Seapoint (i.e. Dublin coast , rocks & some sand).

There are 10's of these birds to be seen each time we visit the seafront.

Their most distinguishing feature is the white band across their wings when in flight.

We have looked up our bird book and believe that the bird is a "Dunlin". However, there is also a suggestion that it may be a Turnstone??

I appreciate that the above info is of poor quality. However, I am just looking for a guess as to what the bird is most likely to be.

jmkennedyie

Hi. Both Dunlin and Turnstone can be seen on the Dublin coast. Can you provide any more info? Often it is the indistinguishing features that help identification . This is sometimes called the "jizz"...the habits, shape, flight, environment, general colours...

Turnstone would be typical right where the rocks meet the sea, examining the puddles and rock pools, and flicking sea weed and stones checking for food underneath.
http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Default.aspx?tabid=341
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/t/turnstone/index.asp

Dunlin I am not so familiar with, but I believe would be more likely to be in the shallow water on the sand / mudflats looking for food.
http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Default.aspx?tabid=325
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/d/dunlin/index.asp (see image 2)

Alun

Turnstones are a bit smaller than Dunlins I think, and have a much shorter beak. Colouring is quite different too, although be careful when looking in your bird books, as both birds have a summer (breeding) and winter plumage which is quite different.

There's plenty of them about there, and in Bray too, and as jmkennedyie said, they'll usually be found rooting around in the pebbles / washed up seaweed /general detritus between the top of the beach and the sea. They're pretty well camouflaged in that kind of environment as well, and can be difficult to spot, but once you see one you'll see dozens.

Here's a picture of a Turnstone I took only a week or so ago in Greystones up on the harbour walls attacking a bit of fish ...

boneless

Lovely photo Alun!! I has to get me a decent camera again!

dewsbury

Thanks to all!

Hannah & I have decided that the bird is a turnstone (rather than a dunlin).

The photo in the previous message helped.
The deciding factors were the colour of the legs and the shortish beak.

Alun

Great! Glad my photo helped.