Birds of the Bay: Cute little Sanderlings, fast and flashy Willets
by Bob Shanman Which two North American counties have the most documented species of birds in North America? Hint: Both are in California, and their total counts are different by one bird. The answer is at the end of the article. Walking along the beach near the surf zone you see many different sized birds feeding in the sand. Most are in the sandpiper family of birds (feeding in the sand with a piping motion of the bill). Worldwide, there are 97 species of sandpipers. Thirty-nine of these species have been seen in Los Angeles County at least once. Twenty-five occur regularly if not annually, some in exceptionally large numbers, including the two described below. These birds winter all along the South Bay coast on rocky shorelines, surf zones, quiet mudflats in and near King Harbor, and on the rocky jetties in the Harbor. We find them from Los Angeles Harbor to the Ballona Wetlands. The sandpipers we see from August through May are in their dull winter, or basic plumage. Many are small, and not unlike the gulls, they can look similar. But the small sandpipers occupy specific feeding niches, which helps with identifying them. Let’s start with the little bird who runs down to the…
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