Sunday's Sanderling

After the two reported Sanderlings by Maarten Kaales at the Veenoordkolk near Deventer yesterday, we had to go back today to see them ofcourse, as it would be a new tick for my county!

Ossenwaard was on first, but apart from 3 Ruffs, a few Little Ringed Plovers, singing Yellow Wagtails and a thermal of 8 White Storks there was nothing else. From there we drove to the Veenoordkolk where we started scanning for the Sanderlings. It took us some time, but as we were at the end of the strip of land near the river we found one Sanderling foraging on the grass close to the edge of the water. Cool! The bird was moulting into summer plumage.

Sanderling (Calidris alba), images by Tammo Meijer

Other birds of interest were 6 Little Ringed Plovers, 10+ Common Sandpipers, a male Ruff and last but not least a nice group of 7 adult summer plumage Little Gulls migrating north, in a steady pace. 

Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)

Tomorrow I'll have my first ringing session of the season at my CES site, exciting!