Dunlin and Lesser Yellowlegs

There was a short break in the clouds and rain from 11 am - 1230 pm, and I raced out to the mud flats.  Was surprised when I arrived at the flats, as there were less than 500 Canada geese in the water.  Four minutes later this changed when about 3000 geese arrived all at once. Then it was noisy bedlam. I asked a resident if the geese settled down and were quiet at night, and the answer was not always.

These birds in the photo are both in the sandpiper family, summering in far northern Canada and migrating south to warmer climes for the winter. The small bird on the left is a dunlin whose name means "small gray-brown colored" bird, and the larger bird is a lesser yellowlegs. Ryan, an ebirder I met out here a couple days ago clued me in about the dozens of dunlin in the vicinity. Obvious differences between the two birds in the photo are black legs vs yellow, and the curvature of the dunlin's bill.  Winter plumage of different sandpipers is often brown and gray so plumage does not always help on first glance, and bird size within a species greatly varies so that is not a telling characteristic either. I am rambling, and it's time for me to go to bed!