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Bird Sightings : Hebrides : Sanderling

Sanderling

Calidris alba

Gaelic: Luatharan-glas

Photograph © Debbie Bozkurt
Balinvanich beach - Isle of Benbecula - Outer Hebrides (Western Isles)
30th September, 2006

 

Our Sanderling photographs

Sanderling	Sanderling with Ringed Plover shows size	Sanderling flock	Sanderling flight

 

• Sanderling
• Calidris alba
• Gaelic: Luatharan-glas
• UK: 23,000+ overwinter
• UK: Passage migrant/winter visitor
• WI: Common passage visitor (regulary seen in good numbers) and fairly common winter visitor (occurs in small numbers)
• Breeds: Nest is a vegetation covered hollow. Lays 4-6 olive-green eggs. Arctic Tundra near freshwater lakes
• WInters: Europe through to Africa
• Habitat: Sandy beaches, mudflats, coastal pools, estuaries, rocky shores
• Small, plump Dunlin-sized wader (length 20cm, 7-8 inches). Head mostly white with delicate grey crown markings. Grey smudge around eye. Short straight dark bill. Dark legs.
  Winter adult lovely silvery-grey above. Very white below. Wings dark, blackish, with white wingbar. Blackish shoulder patch. Noticeably paler than other waders. Summer adult (rarely seen in UK) upper parts russet-brown with dark markings. Brown steaks on white breast.
  Runs very fast, typically running in & out with the waves in small groups
• Similar birds: Dunlin, Knot, Little Stint (rare)
  

 

Sanderling breed on Arctic Tundra near freshwater lakes, so when we see them as visitors in the Spring and Autumn, they are on their way to or from the Arctic.

Long sandy beaches are Sanderling's favourite places, so Barra, the Uists and Benbecula are where they are most often seen in the Western Isles, but sometimes they occur in Lewis and Harris in places like Mangersta and Luskentyre.

 

Sanderling records in the Western Isles

Common passage visitor (regulary seen in good numbers) and fairly common winter visitor (occurs in small numbers)
Source: Outer Hebrides Bird Report (2001)

On the chart below the darker the shade of blue the more abundant the bird is during a month or the more likely you are to see it.

J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D

(Source: Outer Hebrides Birds Checklist)

 

 

Other local bird photographs

Sources of information for the bird sightings section

Debbie's online photo album

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