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During the recent, late summer time months, beachcombers, campers and sandcastles are all widespread sights to be seen while you make your technique to the seashores of Texas.
Maybe you reside right here and are fairly acquainted with these observations. Maybe you’re a customer tenting on the shore in a tent or RV or perhaps you’re simply passing via.
Whether you’re a resident, customer, or somebody on an prolonged keep, one different acquainted sight chances are you’ll acknowledge to our seashores are the birds. And there’s no seaside chicken extra in style than the sanderling.
Sanderlings are one in all our most typical shorebird species alongside the Texas shoreline. They are plump little sandpipers which are largely acknowledged by their distinctive foraging habits, which is to run up and down the shoreline “chasing” the water and drilling the bottom for meals.
They breed in North American and Eurasian Arctic however have one of many largest distributions of shorebirds and might be discovered at coastlines everywhere in the world. How fortunate we’re that we get to have them right here in Texas.
Sanderling are what I wish to name the “true snowbirds” of the Gulf. A plump little chicken, in the course of the wintering months, they’re grey on prime and white on backside, have black legs, a small whitish-gray head, and a brief black beak.
During the breeding season, their head and silvery-gray winter feathers are changed with a mottled rufous and copper colour, virtually making them seem like a completely totally different chicken. Like many individuals alongside the coast, these birds are right here to winter and benefit from the good meals assets obtainable.
The first time I ever noticed a sanderling was over 12 years in the past in New Jersey, at a spot referred to as Barnegat Light. At the time, I used to be a not-so-great birder and an excellent worse shorebird identifier. I keep in mind my good friend telling me what these cute little plump birds working up and down the coast have been and the best way to establish them. As a school child who had been dwelling within the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania, it wasn’t each day that you simply received to go to the seaside to take a look at shorebirds.
Sanderlings have been a particular chicken to me as a result of, like many different individuals entering into chicken watching, they have been one of many first shorebird species I ever noticed. Shorebirds are recognized for being a difficult group of birds to study, however the Sanderling have a manner of reminding you that everytime you attempt one thing new, you must begin someplace. They’re good at encouraging you to maintain going and at reminding you ways far you’ve come.
The subsequent time you might be out on the seaside, pay attention to the birds that you simply see round you. You’ll very possible see a big group of Sanderling resting on the shore, or you may even see a number of people working up and down and foraging for meals. Take a while to sit down with the Sanderling. They too have come a protracted technique to be right here.
Rebekah Snyder is a biologist on the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, a non-profit group devoted to saving the birds and their habitats alongside your entire Gulf Coast and past into their Central and South America wintering grounds.
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