THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 3, 1995 TAG: 9509010247
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
When you're on the beach this weekend, keep an eye out for the familiar little sanderlings that run up and down the shore playing tag with the waves and you might see some other interesting birds, too.
Although you can see shorebirds here most any time of the year, late August and September is their migration time. The little sanderlings stop in especially large numbers on the beaches to stoke up for their long flight to South America. They peck up tiny crustaceans, like mole crabs, that are left behind in the wet sand by outgoing waves.
Ever since Hurricane Felix didn't come, I've seen lots of sanderlings on the North End beach. They are our most common little shorebird, about the size of a starling and a nondescript brownish and whitish color.
The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds describes their calls as a ``sharp kip'' and a ``conversational chatter while feeding.'' The past few times I've been on the beach, I've heard the sharp ``kip'' but not much chatter. These birds have been irritable and downright aggressive with one another at times.
Instead of racing up and down the beach, feeding in flocks, they are feeding alone, intent on protecting whatever food is nearby. One will fluff up its feathers formidably, lower its head and charge another that comes too close. I've even seen them spar with each other several times, flying up off the beach, squawking and pecking.
From what I've read, this little bird is aggressive when it comes to defending its winter feeding territory. So I've been wondering if maybe they are so feisty because they are having a harder time than usual finding food, as a result of high tides from Felix and other storms.
The storm really did seem to affect the feeding behavior of the shorebirds that visit Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, a prime feeding and resting spot for migrating shorebirds. The birds feed not only on the refuge beach but in the big interior impoundments where the water level is normally low at the end of the summer and lots of food can be found in the wet mud.
The week before last, Virginia Beach Audubon Society member Betsy Nugent went to the refuge hoping to find a number of shorebird species migrating through. But Sanderlings were about all she saw.
``I was expecting more,'' Nugent said. ``It could have something to do with the storm, or it could be they are just a little later this year.''
Turns out the birds really have started migrating through, but they were finding more food out in Back Bay than on the refuge beach or impoundments. ``Most of them were hanging out in the bay on the mud flats,'' said refuge wildlife biologist Florence James.
The mud flats were left behind by days of northeast winds pushing water out of the bay to the south and into Currituck Sound. ``Now they're moving back to the shallow areas of the impoundments,'' James said.
The road along the refuge's east dike and the AB cross dike are both open to the public now, she added. The cross dike is especially good for shorebird watching.
This week James said she has seen semi-palmated plovers, greater and lesser yellowlegs and several varieties of peeps in the impoundments. Peeps is a catch-all term for various tiny sandpipers that are smaller than the sanderlings. Distinguishing these little birds from one another takes someone with the experience and eye of James and Nugent. I feel good when I just recognize they are there, whatever species.
In fact shorebirds are hard to identify period because most of them have the same brownish-grayish-whitish color. Nugent suggests that you look for other physical characteristics like size, long or short legs, and long or short or up or down curved bills.
James saw a few upward curved bills in the refuge impoundments this week. The unusual bills are a distinct characteristic of large bird called a marbled godwit. ``It's a rare sight for this area,'' James said. ``We just don't see that many of them.''
Marbled godwits have the same brownish color and are about the size of a whimbrel, one of my favorites. Also not as commonplace as the other shorebirds here, the whimbrel is a big 17-inch bird with a long down-curved bill. When it lands, it floats down like a parachute. A few whimbrels have been on the refuge beach this week, James said.
``Right now is a good time if you want to see terns on the beach, too,'' she added. ``There were lots of royal, sandwich, Caspian, least and common terns.''
You also might see several species of plovers on the beach or in the impoundments. Plovers, a little bigger than sanderlings, usually have a distinct dark marking or two - neck ring or belly that makes them stand out from other shorebirds.
Among the birds you also might see before too long is a dunlin, which is the size of a sanderling but has a longer bill that curves down at its tip. A dowitcher, about 12 inches long with a long bill that it uses to probe for food deep in the wet sand, might come into view, too.
Any one of these birds also could be found among the sanderlings along all of our beaches this time of year. ``It is really an exciting time,'' Nugent said. ``Most people see the sanderlings and don't see any thing more.''
So, this weekend take some time to look among the familiar little birds and see what else you can find. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
Sanderlings, migrating south, are our most common little shorebird,
about the size of a starling and a nondescript brownish and whitish
color.
by CNB