Sanderlings
Shore Birds
Figure 4 - Sanderlings
The Sanderling, as if the opposite of the Purple Sandpiper, prefers to feed on the shifting sands at the waters edge. The move incessantly along a beach, running to and fro along the waters edge while deftly staying just ahead of the advance and retreat of the waves.
They probe the beaches of the world for flies, insect larvae, small crustaceans, small crabs, shrimps, mollusks, marine worms, and for meiofauna, the many creatures that are especially adapted to live in the microspaces between the grains of sand. On the beach, their white color blends well with their preferred sandy environment.
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