While visiting Lake George in New York, I saw several of these birds along the edges of the shoreline. Sanderlings are small, plump sandpipers with a stout bill that is about the same length as their head. These and other sandpipers in their genus are often called “peeps.” Sanderlings are medium-sized members of this group.
You’ll most often see Sanderlings in nonbreeding plumage, when they are very pale overall: light gray above and white below, with a blackish mark at the shoulder. In Spring and Summer, Sanderlings are spangled black, white, and rich rufous on the head, neck, and back. At all times, their legs and bills are black.
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.”
They are among the most extreme northern breeding birds in the world, nesting only on the coldest tundra. They are also long-distance migrants, wintering south to South America, western and southern Europe, Africa, and Australia.
Sanderlings have only have three toes on each foot; they are missing the hind toe, which gives them a distinctive running action – a bit like a clockwork toy.
It was fun to see this small, sprightly shorebird on my visit to the Big Apple.
