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Sanderling | Calidris alba
Drieteenstrandloper | Correlimos Tridáctilo
The Sanderling is the pale sandpiper of the surf: small flocks run like clockwork toys after retreating waves and flee from the next. It breeds on the Arctic tundra and in the southern summer is numerous on the sandy beaches of the west coast, from the Cape to Angola.
Voice
A short, liquid twick or plit, often repeated on take-off; flocks give a soft twittering.
Recording: Ricardo Hevia — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
19–21 cm. A compact, fairly short-billed sandpiper with a straight black bill and black legs lacking a hind toe. In non-breeding plumage the palest sandpiper of the region: upperparts pale silvery grey, underparts brilliant white, with a small black mark at the bend of the wing that is often visible on the perched bird. The face is white, with a dark eye in an otherwise almost unmarked head. Juveniles in September and October have a black-and-white chequered mantle. Birds moulting in spring acquire a rufous, black-spotted head, breast and mantle from March. In flight a broad white wingbar against dark lesser coverts and primaries, and a white rump with a dark central stripe.
Confusion species
Dunlin Calidris alpina is darker grey-brown in non-breeding plumage, with a longer bill drooping at the tip and a grey breast band. Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea has a long, decurved bill, longer legs and a white rump, and prefers mud to the surf. Little Stint Calidris minuta is much smaller and browner, with a finer bill. Red Knot Calidris canutus is larger and greyer, more heavily built, with greenish-grey legs.
Habitat
Mainly open sandy beaches with surf, where it picks small crustaceans, worms and bivalves from the swash zone and wet sand; also lagoons, estuaries and salt works, as at Walvis Bay. Rare inland, then on the shores of large dams and pans. At high tide it roosts in tight flocks above the tideline.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
Along the entire coast of the region, most numerous on the west coast of Namibia and the Western Cape, with thousands of birds around Walvis Bay and Sandwich Harbour; also along the south and east coasts of South Africa, the coast of Mozambique and the coast of Angola. A scarce passage migrant inland in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It winters on the coasts of almost every continent and breeds around the North Pole, in Siberia, Greenland and northern Canada.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Winter visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Walk a sandy Atlantic beach on a rising tide: small flocks of pale birds racing back and forth with every wave on blurring legs are almost certainly Sanderlings. At Walvis Bay they roost at high tide on the lagoon embankments with Curlew Sandpipers and Red Knots, which allows a good comparison.
Conservation status
Not threatened, with a very large world population. In southern Africa, however, numbers have clearly declined since the 1980s, probably through disturbance of beaches by vehicles and recreation and through changes along the flyway. Walvis Bay and the Western Cape lagoons are of international importance for the species.
Scientific name
Calidris alba | (Pallas, 1764)
Pallas described the species in 1764 as Trynga alba; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Calidris was introduced in 1804 by Merrem. Calidris goes back to Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a name Aristotle used for an unidentified grey waterside bird. alba is Latin for 'white', after the pale winter plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from the North Sea coast.