Our Mission: To preserve and protect the animals, plants, and natural communities in Indian River County through advocacy, education, and public awareness. |
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Bird Photo of the Month May 2012 |
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Photo Title: "Sandpiper on the Run" by Mary Lou Christy of the Pelican Island Audubon and Indian River Photo Club. It was taken with a 300mm lens and Nikon D700 at ISO 1600, 1/800s at F/10 exposure. Sanderling: Calidris alba Order: Charadriiformes Family: Scolopacidae Sanderlings, small sandpipers, in groups of 3-4 are commonly seen on sandy beaches rushing after the receding waves probing for mole crabs (aka "sand fleas). The life of the mole crab is spent in that wash zone, bubbles indicate where they are, the whole reason Sanderlings specialize in scuttling back and forth with each wavelet. With their backs toward the ocean, Sanderlings are so busy poking their bills in the sand that they don’t look like they’re watching. Yet amazingly, they run from the incoming wave just in time not to get their feet wet! How do those little legs carry them so fast? They rapidly move as if peddling a bicycle, their body level over churning tiny legs. Have you ever seen them get caught by a wave? Sanderlings are one of the most cosmopolitan, widespread maritime shorebirds. Sanderlings that nest in arctic Spitsbergen, Norway and Siberia winter in Southern Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. From the Canadian Arctic archipelago and Greenland, Sanderlings disperse to North America from Pacific to Atlantic Coasts and on tidal sand or mud flats and the shores of lakes and rivers all the way 6,000 miles to southern Chile and Argentina. Juanita Baker, Coordinator |
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