Phil and I were taking a walk on Coast Guard Beach the other day when we saw some little birds scurrying about in the and. At first we thought they were some late Piping Plovers, but the coloring wasn’t right. As we got closer, we realized that they were Sanderlings. (Click on blog link for other photo.)
“The first photo shows a Sanderling in winter plumage, the second photo shows a Sanderling molting out of its colorful breeding plumage.”
Thank you, Stephanie (Executive Director at Wild Care Cape Cod) for your expertise and knowledge of these wonderful little birds!
Since I’d never heard of a Sanderling, I had to look it up. The high arctic tundra! Yikes!
And so cool that there’s an “invertebrate” in the top photo! 🙂
“Sanderlings breed on the High Arctic tundra and migrate south in fall to become one of the most common birds along beaches. They gather in loose flocks to probe the sand of wave-washed beaches for marine invertebrates, running back and forth in a perpetual “wave chase.””
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sanderling/id
That’s great!! Thank you for the research!