I Found Sanderlings

Here is a new find for me, sanderlings.

At first glance I thought they were some kind of sandpiper or killdeer.

But these guys didn't have the killdeer sound or the band across the chest.

They were hunting the edge of lake Michigan together. Look how camouflage they are against the beach stones. Their back looks like the pebbles and their chest looks like a large white stone.

My second guess was some kind of sandpiper. Possibly a Baird's Sandpiper.

But after looking at reference photos the black legs and beak didn't point me to sandpiper.

After a while researching I finally landed on sanderling as the ID. These guys go all the way up to the Arctic Tundra to nest then fly south in fall. I suspect they are around midway here in Illinois to go back up to the breeding grounds in Canada.

I had planned on going swimming but man is the water still way too cold in Lake Michigan. This one had no problem with the cold though and took a really cold bath.

They hang around in groups and fly back and forth along the beach.

They have an interesting white highlight on the top of their wings and their white bellies really catch the sunlight well as they zig and zag just above the water's surface.

They sort of pick around in a group for a while on the shoreline then fly off somewhere and return again to the same spot a few minutes later. They have to rummage around all day long on whatever the waves wash up on shore.

I managed to find some sandy mud where they made some tracks. Not very descriptive tracks they could be made by any number of other shoreline birds.

I'll have to keep closer eyes on the shoreline of Lake Michigan. As I researched the ID of sanderlings there were many other types of sandpipers and snipes that look similar. Maybe I can finally truly go snipe hunting lol.

Thanks for looking :-)