Bird of the Day

Another sign of winter just showed up. Purple Sandpipers in our neck of the woods aren’t fall migrants but winter residents. I found these 2 on Seapoint the other day and soon there’ll be a good-sized flock that’ll hang out until March before heading back above the Arctic Circle to breed. They’re more of a rock sandpiper than a beach peep, though you’ll sometimes find them foraging among the cobbles and wrack on Crescent Beach. Darker and plumper than most other sandpipers with 2-toned and slightly drooping bills, and yellow-orange legs. If you approach low and slow like, they’ll let you get pretty close.