East Coast Wood Sandpipers

While the Wood Sandpiper is considered accidental, i.e. very rare, in the lower 48, it has been recorded breeding in the Outer Aleutians. It is even rarer on the east coast.

Wood Sandpiper- Delaware, 5/9/08

A Wood Sandpiper showed up in Rye, New York in early winter 1990. The sighting was covered in the New York Times. Check out the article, it quotes Roger Tory Peterson.

There is also a report from the NYSARC of a possible 1907 specimen although the committee is possibly unsure of the ID.

1907 Accepted Report

WOOD SANDPIPER (Tringa glareola). 1980-35-A. specimen, Gaines, Orleans Co., 10 Oct. 1907 (PDeB). The details of this first New York record are published in American Birds Vol. 34: 231; 1980. The Committee has attempted to ascertain the possibility that this is a mislabeled specimen. Our results are equivocal. The Milton S. Ray collection, from which this specimen comes, contains no other birds with similar labels; we would appreciate any further evidence that might corroborate the origin of this specimen.

The New York State Avian Records Committee

So the Delaware Wood Sandpiper is a 2nd, possibly 3rd record for the east coast.