This audio story is brought to you by BirdNote, a partner of the National Audubon Society. BirdNote episodes air daily on public radio stations nationwide.
This is BirdNote! Here and there along winter shorelines, both on the Pacific and Atlantic, little flocks of pale, silvery shorebirds probe at the water’s edge, keeping pace with each wave’s ebb and flow. These small sandpipers are called Sanderlings. Rachel Carson, whose book Under the Sea Wind set a high standard for nature writing, described Sanderlings as running “with a twinkle of black feet.” Carson depicted Sanderlings’ foraging along the beach as “keeping in the thin film at the edge of the ebbing surf . . . where puffs of blown spume or sea froth rolled like thistle down.” Sanderlings also winter in the Hawaiian Islands. In the native language, they are known as hunakai, or “sea foam,” an apt description of the sandpipers’ pale winter plumage and their nimble dance with the waves. In the warmer months, Sanderlings nest in the extreme north, most north of the Arctic Circle, in remote sites in Canada, Greenland, and Siberia. In winter, however, they spread out as far as any bird in the world. Their silvery flocks are sprinkled along beaches throughout the temperate and tropic zones, on six of the seven continents. For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann.
Call of the Sanderlings provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by R.S. Little
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Pelicans are those large birds you see perched on a peer with the silly gullets that can quickly gather up fish. You can see them on beaches all over the place. But pelicans are more than just giant, lazy beach birds. They’re actually pretty impressive.
These beachy birds have the perfect seaside names. Small wading birds, sanderlings are primarily grey and white in color, though some have brown, tan, and black breeding plumage. They are found in temperate, tropical, terrestrial, saltwater, and marine environments on the American Pacific Coast, the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Brazil, the Gulf Coast, Russia, Siberia, and even Canada. They run in short, fast steps to avoid the waves, which makes them very adorable!
Similar to gulls, these birds also live in noisy colonies and typically build their nests on the ground, though some will build basic nests in trees, cliffs, or cracks. Even in the Arctic, you can find terns by the sea, and you’ll undoubtedly see them in groups. Their colonies are quite large, usually numbering in the range of 2,000 to 20,000 birds. Because they are circumpolar, they can survive in arctic climates.
You can see gulls on any beach you visit because they are gregarious, nocturnal, and have a wide variety of adaptations.
They can live up to 25 years, and despite their awkward gait on land, they are strong flyers with wingspans of between 6 and 11 feet and even stronger swimmers thanks to their unusual webbed feet. Large flocks of white pelicans can be seen here as they migrate to Florida from October to November.
This audio story is brought to you by BirdNote, a partner of the National Audubon Society. BirdNote episodes air daily on public radio stations nationwide.
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The Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York’s Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds is the source of “Call of the Sanderlings.” Recorded by R. S. Little.
This is BirdNote! Occasionally, small flocks of pale, silvery shorebirds explore the water’s edge along winter shorelines on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, following the ebb and flow of each wave. These small sandpipers are called Sanderlings. The author of Under the Sea Wind, Rachel Carson, set the bar high for nature writing when she said that Sanderlings ran “with a twinkle of black feet.” The beach foraging of Sanderlings was described by Carson as “keeping in the thin film at the edge of the ebbing surf.” where sea foam or blown spume rolled down like thistles ” Sanderlings also winter in the Hawaiian Islands. The term “sea foam,” hunakai in the local language, describes the sandpipers’ pale wintertime plumage and their deft dance with the waves. In the warmer months, sanderlings build their nests in isolated locations in Canada, Greenland, and Siberia, which are located far north—mostly north of the Arctic Circle. But during the winter, they migrate farther than any other bird in the world. Their silvery flocks can be seen strewn along beaches in six of the seven continents’ temperate and tropical zones. For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann.
FAQ
What are the little birds on the beach?
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What are the little beach birds that walk fast?
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