World Shorebirds Day

Sep 3

On September 6, we celebrate World Shorebird Day, dedicated to these great travelers. After all, who doesn't like to travel? Visiting new places or returning to our favorite spots! The feeling of being suspended in the air, with the excitement of reaching our long-awaited destination. We associate travel with adventure, a change of scenery, new beginnings, and new opportunities.

Shorebirds are travelers par excellence, undertaking one of the most amazing migrations on the planet. Some of them cross the entire Pacific Flyway, from Patagonia to Alaska, flying more than 30,000 kilometers in a year. During their migration, these travelers use various stopover sites, where they rest, feed, and recharge their energy to continue their fligh

Todos Santos Bay is one of these stopover sites. They begin to arrive in the summer, and eventually, if we pay attention, we will see more and more of them: on the beach, in the mudflats, saltmarshes and the estuary. Here they take the opportunity to feed and rest. Migrating consumes a lot of energy and fat reserves, which they replenish at the stopover sites.

Have you seen shorebirds at Punta Banda? Here is a small gallery so you can recognize them the next time you walk along the beach and see them feeding or perhaps resting (Click on the photo to move to the next one).

Least Sandpiper (right) and Western Sandpiper (botton left)

You can recognize the smallest sandpipers by the fact that the Least Sandpiper is smaller and has yellow legs, while the Western Sandpiper has black legs.

Sanderling

You will see them on the beach engaging in “wave chasing” behavior, where they run away from approaching waves and then quickly run back when the wave recedes.

Snowy Plover

Everyone's favorite! We can see it all year round, but in winter some medium-distance migrants arrive.

Semipalmated Plover

Not to be confused with the Snowy Plover, it has a darker brown color, more vibrant legs, and a dark beak with an orange base.

Ruddy Turnstone

Medium-size shorebird, you can see them on the beach, along with other shorebirds, in mixed flocks.

Black-bellied Plover

A large plover, is completely gray in winter, but if you see it during the summer, it may still have its breeding plumage, and you will see its characteristic black belly.

Greater Yellowlegs

Medium-sized shorebird, very well distinctive for its bright yellow legs.

Black-necked Stilt

Unmistakable with its long pink legs and black and white body.

American Avocet

It has a long, upward-curving beak. In breeding plumage, its head takes on a reddish-orange hue, and in winter it turns white.

Willet

Entirely gray shorebird (body, legs, beak), however, in flight we can see a black and white pattern on its wings. We usually see it in the company of Marbled Godwits.