Earlier this week, I encountered a flock of pectoral sandpipers at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, foraging on a mudflat along a marsh-lined channel. They were the first migrant shorebirds that I have observed this year.
Indeed, pectoral sandpipers are among the earliest spring migrants; having wintered in South America, they are headed for the Arctic tundra of Alaska and Canada. These medium-sized sandpipers feed primarily on insects and aquatic invertebrates and are most often seen in open wetlands or on flooded fields. On their breeding grounds, nests are nothing more than a scrape in the tundra surface.
While we impatiently wait for the chilly, wet month of March to end, these hardy, long-distance travelers assure us that spring is already underway. By the time we are enjoying the warmth and color of April and May, they will be settling into their Arctic digs.
