Hi all,

A fellow birder very kindly e-mailed me off line to let me know that the actual 
age of the Purple Sandpiper that I saw yesterday was a 1st winter bird, not 
an adult nonbreeding as I had posted. I actually have a great book 
entitled "The Shorebird Guide" and if I would have looked in it, I would have 
indeed seen that yesterday's bird was in fact a 1st winter bird. A 1st winter 
bird has crisply white-fringed coverts & tertials just like the one I saw 
yesterday. A nonbreeding bird would have not shown the crisp coverts and 
the tertials would have less brilliant pale fringes. Sorry for the mis-info and 
thank you to the birder who e-mailed me.

Jim Mead