Sanderling

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word Sanderling comes from Old English words meaning “sand-ploughman.” True to their name, this species spends most of its time along the shoreline eating whatever small critters they can find. Sanderlings are a species of sandpiper, a group known as “peeps” because of their high-pitched, peep-y calls. Peeps are notoriously hard to identify and I hope I’m not embarrassing myself by making a public ID error, though it wouldn’t be the first time and probably won’t be the last!

I saw this young bird at Blackie Spit, Surrey, on September 16. Based on her speckled back she should be a juvenile bird, only a few months old and freshly arrived in Metro Vancouver from her birthplace in the Arctic. Sanderlings overwinter as far north as Alaska and as far south as Argentina (as well as in Eurasia and Australia)!

Also at Blackie Spit was a Western Sandpiper, who looked so tired from his migration that he was about to fall asleep right on the beach. Many birds will fly almost nonstop on migration, only occasionally landing at stopover sites to have a quick nap and a snack before moving on.