Sanderling
Calidris alba
Coastal & Wetland. Very white appearance with dark black shoulder patch.
LC
Not Endemic
Description
Common summer visitor. A small shorebird of very white appearance with dark shoulder-patch and short, thick bill. White wing-bars conspicuous in flight. Larger and paler than any stint. When flushed calls a liquid ‘blt-blt’. Flocks, mostly on open seashores, characteristically run along the water’s edge and feed where the waves have receded. An uncommon passage migrant on inland waters. Feeds in a hunched, head-down posture, probing wet sand hurriedly, continuously. Flight is low and direct.
Quick Facts
Size
#VALUE!
Names
A: Drietoonstrandloper
Ss: Seyalelebopo Sa Maotoraro
G: Sanderling
Bird Family
A group of small birds usually found along shorelines and wading in shallow water. They usually have longish legs and bills for probing mud, feeding on small insects and invertebrates. Species breed in northern regions and during this time the males assume richly coloured plumage. They migrate south in drab non-breeding plumage at the start of the southern hemisphere summer. Illustrations depict the species in non-breeding plumage, unless otherwise indicated.
Distribution
Gallery
Behaviour
Breeding
Habitat
