A few more from Cape Ann last week

Andrews and Hallibut point were good spots for large rafts of eiders and  Harlequin Ducks. Also saw a couple of Northern Gannets, and Red-throated Loons. Missed finding Purple Sandpipers, but a few Sanderlings were sleeping on the rocks.

Harlequin Ducks

Harlequin Dcuks and Common Eider (hen)

Rose thrips

Sanderlings

Sanderlings

And finally ... scene from Sandy Point on Plum Island. I had hoped for raptors and owls in the late afternoon. Had some reports, but except for a Red-tailed and harrier, they were not flying when I went by.

But I also love the bleak beauty of coastal dunes ...

Good Birding!

Blogging Again

Solitary Sandpiper

After a three and a half month hiatus, I am back to blogging - hopefully with regularity. A few followers have inquired about my absence, and I thank them heartily.

Home projects consumed me during my blogging absence - getting them done took nearly all of my attention. But they are done, and I am finally able to return to doing the things that I enjoy in retirement: birding, photography, and learning about things with wings.

Two days ago I finally made my first trip of the year to Cape May from my Philadelphia base. Several hours of leisurely strolling through the state park and conservancy trails was a much needed tonic. The birds, butterflies, and dragonflies were almost an extra bonus.

I think the highlight of the day (other than just being there) was the Belted Kingfisher which hovered just a few feet above my head as it fished one of the ponds ...

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

I never tire of sitting on a sandy beach and watching the Sanderlings chase the waves -  (true sand-pipers as opposed to the mud-pipers which would better describe most peeps) ...

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

... or finding a quiet spot where solitary contemplation is shared only with a Solitary Sandpiper doing its solitary foraging ...

Solitary Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper

And what else can improve a perfectly sunny, warm summer day than standing on a causeway a few feet from a gracefully elegant Great Egret as it preens and then stalks with such focused attention and patience? ...

Great Egret

Great Egret

Great Egret

Great Egret

Looking forward to a Labor Day filled with labors of love!

Sanderling - a "True" Sandpiper

I love the seashore and beach most of the year. I am not too keen about the seashore during the summer when the sun is melanoma producing, and the sand is littered with debris that has drifted from inland and is scattered in nearly naked lumps all over the place. But in the fall, winter, and spring that debris has been gathered up and returned to its city scape. Then the seashore beach  is in its elemental form. The rising and falling tides stir the sands, smoothing them at the water’s edge, constantly reshaping the sandbars and dunes, and often casting up the ocean’s debris.

Sanderlings (and a few Dunlin)

In late October, I walked some beaches in Cape May, New Jersey. The low sun of the waning day glared off the placid waves. My long shadow preceded me as I walked slowly along the wet sand, just out of the water’s reach. Another lone walker was far ahead, apparently more intent on exercise than I was; her pace widened the distance between us. I allowed the distance to grow greater as I stopped and watched tiny white shorebirds chasing the waves.

Sanderlings run from the waves

Their legs were a blur as they ran up the sand ahead of the waves. Then they reversed direction to chase the water as it receded - back and forth, like school yard children playing tag - or teasing a playful dog on a leash. The birds I watched were Sanderlings,  and they are one of the reasons I love the beach along the seashore.

Sanderlings are common along our seacoasts except from mid-June to mid-July. During that period they are north of the Arctic circle, breeding. They waste little time in that task and are soon back along our coasts, chasing the waves. If you see a sandpiper on a sandy beach going back and forth with the water, barely getting its feet wet, you are seeing a Sanderling.

Audubon knew this bird as the Sanderling Sandpiper. Somewhere along the line, the mavens of nomenclature decided this was redundant, and dropped “sandpiper” from its name. But the Sanderling is arguably the only “true” sandpiper.

Sanderling - "birds that peep on the sand"

The “piper” part of “sandpiper” seems to come from a word meaning “chirp,” or “peep,” hence sandpipers are “birds that chirp on the sand,” or “peep on the sand.” The Sanderling and its closest relatives (in the genus Calidris) are known among bird watchers as “peeps.”

The Sanderling (meaning “little bird of the sand”) is the only sandpiper which you will regularly find on sand - or sandy beaches. I went through the Kaufman guide for the habitats where we are most likely to see other Calidris sandpipers. Here’s what I found:

Least Sandpiper - edges of rivers, ponds, marshes
Semipalmated Sandpiper - mudflats
Western Sandpiper - open flats
Pectoral Sandpiper - grassy mudflats, flooded fields (the “grasspiper”)
White-rumped Sandpiper - flooded fields, marshy edges of mudflats
Baird’s Sandpiper - grassy mudflats, flooded fields
Buff-breasted Sandpiper - short-grass plains, plowed fields
Dunlin - mudflats
Red Knot - tidal flats, sandy beaches
Purple Sandpiper - rocky coastlines, jetties
Spotted and Solitary Sandpiper (not genus Calidris) - along creeks and ponds

Most of these sandpipers will rest and sleep on sandy flats. On northbound migration, they feed on horseshoe crab eggs buried in the sandy beaches of the Delaware Bay. But their usual, preferred place for foraging, and where they are most often seen by the watchers of shorebirds, is not the sandy beach. Most would be more accurately termed “mudpipers.” But don’t expect any name changes in the near, or even distant, future. There is no requirement for accuracy in a common bird name.

The Sanderling is the exception. The Sanderling is a bird of the sand. It sleeps on sandy flats and forages at water’s edge on sandy beaches. It is a true “bird on the sand that peeps.”

The Sanderling is common, and it is very tempting to see it along a sandy beach - say to oneself, “Sanderling,” and go on to look for something else. But they merit leisurely watching. I stood watching them as the waves broke, spray flying. They were masters of timing - probing the sand, then nimbly running up the slope ahead of the water - then racing the water back down to grab new morsels stirred by the water’s action.

I watched a dozen Sanderlings probing wet sand where the tide had ebbed. Something sent them flying further down the beach. I walked closer to where they had been probing. Tiny little holes dotted the wet sand, an inch apart in random lines. My feet barely left a mark on the hard, wet surface. The tiny feet of the Sanderlings left no mark at all. Had I not been watching, this series of holes in the sand would have posed a mystery, causing me to wonder what could have caused these neat, uniform holes in the sand. But I had seen the Sanderlings.

Foreground: Sanderling in breeding plumage in May
Background: Ruddy Turnstone

Most of the year when we encounter Sanderlings, we see them in winter plumage. Then they are white, or gray-white, pale and chunky little birds. In Spring they molt into breeding plumage, briefly sporting a rich, reddish brown on head and foreparts. The times of transition from one plumage to the next present an array of in-between appearances. But whatever the plumage, Sanderlings are most likely to be on the sandy beach chasing the receding waters and speeding from the incoming waves.

On that Cape May beach, the Sanderlings were frenetic in their feeding, but fairly calm with my presence. By slow degrees, I inched closer. I could see them probe with open beak, gulp some tiny delicacy, always mindful of where the water’s edge was, whether to hurry toward the ocean or away from it.

Merlin

And then suddenly, the flock took flight. In an instant, sixty birds disappeared over the dunes. In the corner of my eye, I saw a dark form. Almost as quickly as I could lift my binoculars, the dark form had also disappeared beyond the dunes. I could only get a feel of pointed wings, but it was enough. Sanderlings were foraging along the shoreline in the late afternoon. So was the Merlin. I had watched Sanderlings ingesting energy against the chilly autumn night. And now I wondered if the Merlin, a falcon of the north, would also be feeding.

I can’t choose between the two, and have no right to do so anyway. So I wished the Sanderlings - and the Merlin - good luck and good feeding.

The seashore birding that late October afternoon was very good.

Sanderlings take flight

Recovery - and on to Cape May

The last couple of weeks since my last post have been rather trying. Instead of enjoying the delightful Fall weather in Vermont, I dealt with a computer crash/infection/or some - @#$% - thing. Stress and lost time, but its working, and I seem not to have lost anything of importance.

Finished the recovery job in Philly, then celebrated yesterday with a trip to Cape May - a delightful, pleasant Fall day. Just being outside meandering about some of my favorite spots was fulfilling - the kind of day when you don't have to see anything "special," because everything is special.

Just a few samples, beginning with the Carolina Wrens - they were singing and chasing one another. Since breeding season is over, I presume the rivalries had to do with older males chasing off younger males, and younger males trying to find some territories of their own. Whatever it was precisely, it was entertaining.

Carolina Wren

My cats awakened me very early for breakfast, which meant getting to Cape May at dawn ... which in turn meant some wonderful early morning light. A few samples ...

Northern Cardinal

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Great Blue Heron

 No dawn light on this Ruby-crowned Kinglet, but this one was much more accommodating to my camera than the ones I tried to photograph outside my kitchen window in Vermont - no keepers from Vermont, but a nice, if fleeting, pose from this one.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

 Cape May is famous during the Fall for hawk migration. I did not spend much time at the watch platform, but that hardly mattered. The hawks were visible overhead all over the area. On several occasions, I looked up to see several accipters (sharps & coops). Here is a Sharp-shinned Hawk ...

Sharp-shinned Hawk

A few butterflies were still flying - one Monarch, Clouded Sulphurs, Common Buckeyes, and in several locations, American Lady ...

American Lady

No trip to the coast is complete without some time watching the Sanderlings chase, or be chased by, the waves ...

Sanderling

... and finally ... just because it is Fall, a time of glorious color before the bleak monotones of winter.

Good Birding!

Turning Stones and Forster"s courting

My recent trip to southern New Jersey was a little early for shorebirds, but most species were present in modest numbers.

At Forsyth NWR, Ruddy Turnstones were actively "turning stones" ...

Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone

The bird with the turnstone in the preceding photos was capitalizing on the sand being churned to forage. When it finally presented its profile, it gave itself away as a Sanderling in glorious breeding plumage. I am accustomed to seeing the Sanderling as the wave-chasing white sandpiper ...

Sanderling (foreground)

One more Ruddy Turnstone, just because I like the pose ...

Ruddy Turnstone

Forster's Terns were in hyper-active courtship mode, with the ladies calling for food ...

Forster's Turn

... and the gentlemen doing their best to accommodate, though coming up from a dive empty was not unusual, as seen here ...

Forster's Tern

On his way with a gift for his lady ...

Forster's Tern

Good Birding!!

Crossbills

Yesterday was a crisp, clear, bright day - a marvelous day for birding and wonderful light for photography. I drove to the Massachusetts shore. Crossbills were being reported in the campground at Salisbury Beach.

The cone-laden pine trees hosted flocks of White-winged Crossbills and Red Crossbills, the most concentrated winter irruption of these boreal species that I have seen. Here is an early sampling. I'll post additional photos soon.

White-winged Crossbill (male)

Red Crossbill (female and male)

 Crossbills usually travel in single species flock (Sibley), but there was a mixed flock (or two separate flocks which decided to forage in the same trees), as seen in this photo ...

White-winged Crossbill (l) and Red Crossbill (r)

Red-breasted Nuthatches were clearly another irruptive boreal species, with numbers almost rivaling the crossbills ...

Red-breasted Nuthatch

 As I stood with two other birders was watching the crossbills feeding, my binoculars picked up a Common Redpoll. I casually named the bird. A few moments later, one of the birders said, "Thank you. That's a life bird." It is always gratifying to help others add to their observations.

Common Redpoll

 In the estuary near the campground, Bonaparte's Gull provided an accesible display of their tern-like hovering ...

Bonaparte's Gull

At Plum Island, a scan of the ocean produced a rare Western Grebe, plus Horned Grebe, Common and Red-throated Loon, Razorbills, Surf and Black Scoters, Common Eider, and Red-breasted Merganser, all fairly close to shore but too distant for photography. At the waters edge was a flock of Sanderling and Dunlin ...

Sandering (l) and Dunlin (r)

A day of Good Birding!!