New virus discovered in migratory bird in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Type 15 avian paramyxovirus does not pose a threat to humans or birds; preliminary genetic analysis shows that it is closest to viruses found previously in South America

Date: July 25, 2017

Source: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Summary: Researchers have discovered a new virus in a white-rumped sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis), a migratory bird species captured in April 2012 in the Lagoa do Peixe National Park in Rio Grande do Sul State. The current evidence suggests that it is not a risk to humans.

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Rare bird spotted at Portsmouth marshes

Tuesday 27 October 2015

A RARE bird has been spotted at Farlington Marshes – only the sixth time it has been spotted there in decades.

According to Hampshire Wildlife Trust, birders at the marshes were lucky enough to see a white-rumped sandpiper, an American wading bird that breeds in Arctic Canada and winters in South America.

The species is an annual visitor to the British Isles, but since the 1908s it has usually only seen in Hampshire every five or six years. The weekend sighting marks the sixth at Farlington in recent decades.

Source …

Rare birds already showing up on half-finished new reserve in Somerset

Photo: Wikipedia

Rare birds arrive before diggers finish creating new Somerset nature reserve
September 2012. A rare white-rumped sandpiper is the latest unexpected arrival on the Steart peninsula in Somerset. It is currently recovering on a flooded field, despite being surrounded by one of the biggest construction projects in the south west. The bird, which has been blown off course on its migration from Canada to South America, has been attracting bird watchers since the weekend. 

Creating one of the UK's largest wetland reserves
It is the latest in a string of rare birds to be spotted, prompting speculation about the peninsula in Somerset, which is being transformed into one of the country's largest wetland nature reserves.

Tim McGrath from Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust has been working closely with the Environment Agency, which is creating the nature reserve before handing it over to WWT to manage. He said: "It is rather unexpected. We're in the middle of construction so there are a number of very large diggers rumbling around the site. There's one small field that hasn't drained and it has been simply teeming with birds over the last weeks, despite being surrounded by all this hubbub.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/steart-rare-birds.html

 More information on the white-rumped sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis):

https://www.birdguides.com/species/species.asp?tx=619

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3050