We took a short walk on a new shore of Lake Hodges today and would love help IDing this bird. It’s very small, with rapid bat-like flight along the water. It seems to have a longer neck than most sandpipers I’m looking at. Closest seems to be the Least Sandpiper, but this bird seems to have a whiter chest, more solid head coloring, and straighter (less of a “V”) white pattern on the top of spread wings.
Also not sure about this one…Next to the Coot for scale, initially I thought this one was about twice the size of the bird above, but after looking more I think it might be a different bird of the same species. In these the neck looks shorter.
I am always impressed by the diversity:
Double-Crested Cormorants
Not pictured here, but also seen: Red-tailed Hawk, both Grebes, American Widgeon, Cassin’s Kingbird, Black Phoebe, Northern Mockingbird, White-Crowned Sparrow, California Towhee, Hummingbird.
-Blair
The Big Year 2021 
Well…have a look at the Spotted Sandpiper (adult non-breeding) Sibley’s page 29…potentially for either bird, and could they perhaps be the same? Keys for me are: overall color pattern (and I feel color can vary from brown to a brownish gray depending on how each person defines color) very straight bill and it’s coloring plus the yellow legs. These things narrow the candidates down quite a bit for me. – Dad/Dean
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I was just updating the post to say that after more research, I think maybe they are the same species! – Blair
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Agreed that the first bird is a spotted sandpiper! Not convinced they are the same yet because of the darkness and lightness of wing color. – Lynn
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Yes, so much lighter in the second position. Could also be image quality and light… – Blair
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