Dunlin, 9/22/09
Dunlin are one of the easier migrating shorebirds to tell apart in the fall. Even in nonbreeding plumage they are more colorful up close, and their long drooping bills stand out from other medium sized sandpipers like Sanderlings. They breed in wet tundra and are circumpolar, the eastern North American populations winter along the southeast Atlantic and Gulf state shorelines, but it’s not unheard of to see them as far north as New England in wintertime. These 2 are from a group of 5 migrants fetched up on Crescent Beach in Kittery Point.
Robin said,
September 22, 2009 @ 5:33 pm
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaas. A very pretty bird indeed!