Sanderling
Calidris alba
Also known as: Pond Bird
Habitat
Ground
Diet
Invertebrate
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
52 g
About This Species
Watch the swash zone of sandy beaches for a small, pale shorebird running in quick bursts after receding waves to snatch invertebrates, then darting back up the sand as the next wave arrives. Its energetic, mechanical foraging style makes it one of the more entertaining shorebirds to watch. Non-breeding months, particularly winter, are the best time to find flocks along open sandy coastlines.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Keep a reasonable distance and avoid running or walking directly at flocks on the beach, since repeated flushing forces birds to burn energy they need for migration or winter survival.
- Give particular space to any birds that stop feeding and bunch together, which is a sign of stress.
- Beach-nesting and roosting shorebirds are protected in many countries, though the specific laws and how strictly they are enforced vary by location.
LCAvesCharadriiformesScolopacidae
Seasonal Activity
1,958,559 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Scolopacidae
Traits
- Diet
- Invertebrate
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 52 g
Photo
Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.