2022-0211 A Day On The Beach

Territorial Sanderling

This is the classic humpbacked run of a territorial Sanderling chasing another Sanderling out of its territory, squeaking as it runs. The tail is lowered and the black patch at the wing's elbow is made more visible.

Using observations of color-banded birds we established that these linear territories along the beach can be relatively stable for a week or more, with the location of territorial boundaries moving only inches or feet over a day or two even though there are no obvious landmarks on the sand. See next slide for more on this.

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SanderlingLimantour Spit