Sanderling

I find Sanderlings to be great fun. If you are patient they can be quite tolerant of your presence allowing for interesting observations and photographs. They feed on small aquatic invertebrates, probing the sand with their beak, their heads in almost constant motion.

One of their classic behaviors is racing just ahead of the waves as they roll in, then, as the waves recede, they take advantage of any prey that may be left on the beach.
At one point I found myself just a few feet from them, taking pictures as they were feeding, when a large wave came rolling in. Just before we were about to get wet, both the Sanderlings and I made a beeline inland, literally running side by side. It was a hoot.

One of the more interesting Sanderling I saw was the one above. At first I thought it had some type of eye infection, but the more I look at it the more it looks like a wound from a predator. It's not unusual to see birds with some type of injury or infection. Interestingly enough, many of them still seem able to take of themselves.

Sanderling

I walked around Bayocean Spit near Tillamook on Saturday. It's quite a walk, about four miles each way. I walked the ocean beach side first. There weren't very many birds on the beach that morning, but I did get some great looks at some Sanderlings.
I saw two flocks fly by and one of them decided to land just in front of me. It's great fun to watch them scurry along the waters edge looking for small invertebrates. They follow the surf out and then come running back as it comes back in. I used this to my advantage, positioning myself near where they would end up as the water came in and kneeled down low to be less ominous. Sure enough, they came in very close to me.
Shortly after a Western Gull swooped in and landed not far from the action with a crab in its bill.

One of the Sanderlings took interest and started to move in.

I inadvertently helped it out as I moved in by spooking the Western.

This gave the Sanderling its opportunity. While it showed interest and picked at the crab a little, it didn't start feasting.

Feeling bad for the Gull, I backed off and it eventually returned to the crab.

Sanderling

Today I decided to explore the area around Tillamook. My first stop was to Bayocean Spit and I ended up spending most of the day there. Because the sun was just rising, I decided to walk the ocean beach side first since it would light the birds along the shore well. After walking the full length of the beach, I walked the gravel road back along Tillamook Bay.
While the birds were a little spotty, there were a few good opportunities. One of those was my first sighting of Sanderlings. I saw a flock of about 35 fly in along the shore and land at shore's edge not far ahead of me. As I moved in closer, I noticed they were actually moving towards me, so I just stood there and let them come to me. I like it when the birds cooperate like that. :-) At one point a larger wave came in and the whole flock ran in just ahead of it. Then, just as fast as they flew in, they all took off together.
When I got the images on my computer this evening, I wasn't sure if they were Sanderlings or Semipalmated Sandpipers. There's a lot of similarity between the two. Then I noticed in Sibley's field guide that Sanderlings have a pronounced white strip on the upper side of their wings. Luckily, I had taken some pictures of them as they flew away. When I opened the image posted above, it was obvious that these were Sanderlings as the white wing stripe was there just as Sibley illustrated.