Sanderlings

[Stephen Chase]

The early morning of June 1st found me at Semiahmoo Spit. My goal for the morning was to find four species of shorebirds. I knew Killdeer and Black Oystercatcher were a lock. If I found two more they would be almost certainly be late migrants: Western Sandpiper? Whimbrel? Dunlin? Maybe something more unusual like Marbled Godwit or Red Knot? Who knows! That's the fun of birding in June.

What I ended up finding was a flock of four Sanderlings. They can be hard to find in some parts of the Puget Trough, but they are reliable at Semiahmoo in the winter and through May. June is certainly late for them, but evidently this group didn't read the field guide, because here they were. They sure showed well too! Here's my eBird checklist with some pictures.

I think most of us are aware that many birds molt into different plumages at different times of year. The feathers a bird wears when not breeding is called "basic plumage." Once breeding season approaches, birds don what are called "alternate plumaged" feathers. For most shorebirds the difference is relatively subtle, at least compared to ducks and warblers. (Don't tell the Ruff I said that!) Sanderlings are certainly an exception. Attached are two very similar photos of two very different Sanderlings I've photographed this year. The first photo is from Sandy Point on January 9. I'll admit I find this basic plumage stunning: a painting in grayscale. The second photo is from Tuesday right by the county park on Semiahmoo Spit. What a change! No longer is the bird in monochrome, but now it shimmers with a mantle of crisp black spots accented with tawny brown and rufous patches throughout. You would hardly believe it's the same species. Unless you visit Semiahmoo often in May, it's unusual to see Sanderlings looking like this here in Whatcom County

I'm happy to report that in both plumages they can be easily identified by their habits: running into receding waves and inspecting every wave-shaped rock - the chickadee of the beach. That's exactly what these four were doing.

I never did find my fourth shorebird species for the morning. Oh well.

Stephen Chase

[darcie]

thanks for the photos & the explanations, beautiful bird!

Sent from my iPad

On Jun 3, 2021, at 8:31 PM, Stephen Chase <schas...@gmail.com> wrote:

The early morning of June 1st found me at Semiahmoo Spit. My goal for the morning was to find four species of shorebirds. I knew Killdeer and Black Oystercatcher were a lock. If I found two more they would be almost certainly be late migrants: Western Sandpiper? Whimbrel? Dunlin? Maybe something more unusual like Marbled Godwit or Red Knot? Who knows! That's the fun of birding in June.

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<Sanderling Basic.jpg>

<Sanderling Alternate.jpg>

[Pauline Sterin]

Nice morning read, Stephen. Thanks.

Pauline

On Jun 3, 2021, at 8:31 PM, Stephen Chase <schas...@gmail.com> wrote:

The early morning of June 1st found me at Semiahmoo Spit. My goal for the morning was to find four species of shorebirds. I knew Killdeer and Black Oystercatcher were a lock. If I found two more they would be almost certainly be late migrants: Western Sandpiper? Whimbrel? Dunlin? Maybe something more unusual like Marbled Godwit or Red Knot? Who knows! That's the fun of birding in June.

--

[Patricia Otto]

Excellent Stephen. Thank you

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 4, 2021, at 6:39 AM, Pauline Sterin <pste...@gmail.com> wrote:

Nice morning read, Stephen. Thanks.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/northcascadesaudubon.org/d/msgid/whatcom-birds/FFCCCCC3-2F83-4DDF-B700-60A76A579A4B%40gmail.com.