Seward, Alaska
Scattered individual SPOTTED
SANDPIPERS are on the move these past few weeks, migrating through the Seward
area, stopping at every beach to fatten up for the next leg of their journey
down the Pacific coast to as far as South America. The females leave the
breeding sites before the males, and return in the spring ahead of the males
and younger females.
It's been tricky to get a
good photo as they are wary and quick to fly farther down the beach with their
characteristic stiff-winged flutter and glide. I was lucky today to watch one
bird flutter-glide across the Lagoon in town heading directly for my waiting
camera. It landed not far away at the edge of the water and began its incessant
bobbing and teetering as it picked through the invertebrates at the water's
edge.
At this time of year, there
are no spots on a Spotted Sandpiper, but the diagnostic white notch in front of
the wing persists.
Like the Phalaropes, the
larger, dominant female arrives first, choses her territory and displays to
attract a male. She lays 4 eggs in the nest and then may leave the dad to
incubate the eggs while she goes off to find another mate, a breeding practice
called polyandry. She may breed with up to four males in temperate regions, but
probably has fewer nests farther north. Some populations are monogamous and the
pair will both incubate and take care of the young before she migrates south.
(http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/spotted_sandpiper/lifehistory)
There is a lot of fishing
activity along the beaches now during the Silver Salmon Derby but the Lagoon is
a good place to look for this interesting shorebird, especially on the north
end from the boardwalk.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird Report
Reporter
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