The Sanderling (Calidris alba), also called the wave runner, is a long-distance migratory wader that occurs worldwide in coastal areas (particularly on sandy beaches) during the non-breeding season. The breeding range is restricted to the High Arctic tundra of eastern Canada, Greenland and central Siberia. Despite their presence on sandy beaches visited by people, such as Dollymount Strand in Dublin or Red Barn in Cork, strikingly little is known about Sanderlings compared to many other common wader species. 

The Sanderling uses what is called the African-Eurasian flyway, migrating from their breeding grounds down along the Eastern Atlantic coastline to their wintering grounds along the coast of western Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa and the Middle East regions. The knowledge gained from studies carried out by determined and dedicated biologists has lead to the beginning of our understanding of these flyways. One way of accomplishing this understanding is to place metal bands on the legs of the birds with a unique code, which requires the bird to be either retrapped for the code on the metal ring recorded or by means of using a telescope and lots of patience! The advent of light plastic bands (called Darvic rings) allow the biologists to trap the birds, apply a specific code of coloured bands and then rely on the "citizen scientist" to record the combination of colour bands and report the each unique combination to the relevant authority. An example of this is illustrated below on an adult 'Icelandic' Black-tailed Godwit on its breeding grounds in Iceland. This bird breeds on the same farmland every year but has been re-sighted over the years during the Winter and Spring in Ireland, Britain and France!

I was fortunate to be able to record some colour-ringed waders recently while photographing a mixed flock of Sanderling and Dunlin on a high tide roost in Dublin Bay. The flock numbered about 300. I spent about 4 to 5 hours at the site (a couple of hours either side of the high tide) taking photographs of the birds, and looking primarily for juvenile Sanderling and adults moulting out of breeding plumage. It is imperative that the birds are not disturbed on their high tide roosts as they are tired, hungry, cold and in recovery from their long migration from the hight Arctic. For example, at one point, while I was patiently waiting for a Sanderling with a set of Darvic rings to lower its right leg to reveal the full combination needed on both legs for the researcher, a person on a bicycle went by with a fishing rod pointing to the sky and flushed the flock out into the bay. I lost the bird with the combination of rings but luckily refound it again when the flock circled around and came back in again to land and snooze along the rocks. If this disturbance is constant, then the birds become tired, can't rest and recuperate, and may succumb to exhaustion. Therefore, using a telescope, binoculars and a long lens for photographs is important in these situations. (a flock of Red Knot is shown below)

While scanning the mixed flock, I picked up a total of 4 ringed Sanderling, three with Darvic rings and one with a metal ring but with no Darvic rings. I was able to secure the combination of all the Darvic rings and read the ring number on the other bird, but could not get a complete code. I sent off the code combinations to Jeroen Reneerkens based in the University of Groningen, who is coordinator of the colour-ringed Sanderling project in Europe. Jeroen emailed me the data from each of the colour-ringed birds within a week (he was on holidays, otherwise it would have been even quicker). The results of the ringed birds were quite remarkable.

The bird above was trapped and rung in Iwik village, Banc d' Arguin, Mauritania (west Africa) on 12th December 2012. This is the first resighting of this bird. Incredible!! Will it head back down to Western Africa again this winter?

The bird above (blue flag) was trapped and rung in Samoucoo harbour, Rio Tejo, Portugal on 8th November 2012 by Jose Alves and Pete Potts. In fact, Pete has been putting Darvic rings on the Black-tailed Godwits like the one shown above in Iceland for many years. I had the pleasure of working with him for a few days in Iceland in 2009 so it was really great to read the rings on a Sanderling that was tagged by Pete. This is the first resighting of the bird as well! I emailed the image onto Jose and Pete, who were delighted to receive the resighting news and a photograph of one of "their" birds. I wonder will the bird head back to Portugal for the winter?

The bird above was trapped and rung on Sandgerdi, "first beach", Iceland by Jeroen on 22nd May 2011. The bird has been resighted back at this spot in Iceland during the breeding season. However, what is fascinating is that this bird has been resighted every Winter and Spring since 2011, the year it was banded with the Darvic rings, in Dublin Bay. As the colour bands are easily seen and recorded, we are learning a lot from "citizen science" in this regard. It is quite cool, in my opinion, to see birds that breed in Iceland, come to Ireland together during their autumn migration and stop over to refuel. Some members of the migrating flock stay in Ireland, but others will move on to southern Europe or the coast of Africa or the Med or the UK. 

Where this guy with the metal ring, and all the unringed birds, have been during their breeding and non-breeding cycles is anyones guess. The worrying thing about this flock was the small percentage of the birds were juvenile (less than 10%), which reflects the very poor breeding season the waders have had in the tundra this year. 

Huge thanks to Jeroen Reneerkens for the sightings information ([email protected]). More information about the project can be found at the International Wader Study Group (http://www.waderstudygroup.org/res/project/sand-colrings-en.php). Please send any resightings of colour-ringed Sanderling to Jeroen at the email address provided and be mindful of the fact that these birds are tired and just want to get a bit of sleep. 

Just a quick note to say that my blog has been short-listed in the photography category of the Blog Awards Ireland 2014 competition! Many thanks to all who have read and shared my posts. This is motivation for me to write more blog posts and increase my interaction with all you avid readers :)

I was over in San Diego (SD), California attending a conference at the end of June. It was my first time on the west coast of the USA, so I was hoping to get some free time to see some birds. As it was a business trip, I could only take my Canon 400mm f/5.6L lens (plus camera body) and my FujiFilm X100 walk-around camera with me. I was fortunate to speak with someone I know in Boston who had been to the Convention Centre in SD before, so he gave me a few places to visit that were within walking distance of, or a short cab ride away from, the Convention Centre (the very same one which hosted the Comic Con a week or so later!). I had a trio of species I really wanted to see: Hummingbird (any species would do!), Heermann's Gull and Brown Pelican. As it turned out, I managed to bag all three on the first morning as I took a jet-lagged walk along the waterfront of SD near the Gaslamp Quarter at 7am :) Pressure was off, so it was a case of just enjoying what birds I saw when I was out and about. 

The following is a summary of the areas I visited and some of the photographs I managed to get. I think I was there during the "doldrums" of bird migration, where the resident species were busy finishing their breeding season and so were busy feeding chicks etc., and migration had yet to begin, so there was a lack of variety. I imagine that had I been there a month before or after, I would have seen a lot more variety in the areas where I visited. However, it's always exciting to see new species when travelling, so I am not complaining. 

San Diego Waterfront

I was staying in the Gaslamp Quarter, which is only a 5 minute walk away from the waterfront. This was a very pleasant area to walk along, looking at the yachts and being greeted by everyone out on their walk or run at 7am. One thing I noted about San Diego is that everyone I encountered were very friendly. Such a wonderful place. The birds which I saw along the waterfront were Heermann's Gull, Western Gull, California Gull, Caspian Tern, Forster's Tern, Elegant Tern, Least Tern, Royal Tern, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Snowy Egret, Night Heron, House and Song Sparrow, House Finch, Anna's and Allen's Hummingbird, Mourning Dove, Brewer's Blackbird, Starling, Mallard, Osprey, American Crow, Brown Pelican, Feral Pigeon, Western Kingbird, Mockingbird, Black Phoebe, Yellowthroat and Peregrine. 

Western Gull

Snowy Egret

Night Heron

Heermann's Gull

Mockingbird

House Finch

Unconditional Surrender - a statue of the famous scene caught on camera in Times Square, New York when Japan unconditionally surrendered, effectively signalling the end of World War II.

Botanic Gardens in Balboa Park

Balboa Park is a short cab ride north of downtown San Diego. There is a lot more here than just gardens, with a Shakespeare Globe-type theatre, a few churches and museums and of course, San Diego Zoo. A beautiful place to walk around. I was hoping to photograph dragonflies here but all the ponds I visited were being cleaned so no dragons flying around, which was disappointing. The US has some spectacular dragons. However, the birdlife here was fantastic. Very similar passerines as observed along the waterfront, but the gardens also held California Towhee, Orange-crowned Warbler, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Bushtit, Hooded Oriole and Cooper's Hawk. With a bit more exploration, I would probably have found more. I can only imagine what it would be like during migration time!

The Hummingbirds were just bundles of energy; loud, aggressive and great fun to watch. I could have sat there all day taking photographs of them. I was delighted with how the lens handled them, more of which I will touch on later. There was a very tame family of Cooper's Hawk in the area as well, allowing quite close approach. Nothing like I've experienced with our Sparrowhawk here. All-in-all, a great place to visit, particularly if one is stretched for time. The Monarch butterflies here were also a huge thrill for me to see. 

Anna's Hummingbird

Allen's Hummingbird

Cooper's Hawk

Monarch Butterfly

Song Sparrow

Black Phoebe

Bushtit

La Jolla 

I managed to spend a morning up in La Jolla on my last day in San Diego. It is such an idyllic place. Very quiet, lots of cafes, big houses and pleasant people to chat with. I really enjoyed it there. This is where one can see California Sealions hauled out on rocks, and the richardsi race of Harbour Seal. Brandt's Cormorant breed on the cliffs, as do Double-crested Cormorants (albeit in small numbers). Pelagic Cormorant is also a possibility. I also (fortuitously) saw my only Black Skimmer of the trip here, as well as some close fly-by views of Royal Tern and squadrons of Brown Pelicans. The sight of tens of Brown Pelicans flying in formation right over the heads of people walking along the footpaths was something to behold. California Ground Squirrels are very common along the cliffs and people are asked not to feed them. Bird Rock (below) was cool to see as it held Brandt's and Double-crested Cormorants, as well as Harbour Seals and Brown Pelicans. I am sure it has appeared in many movies and TV series in the past. The Harbour Seals were easily seen from the breakwater walkway at the Children's Pool area, while the California Sealions can be easily seen a little bit north at La Jolla Cove. Heermann's Gulls were loafing around on Scripp's Park in reasonable numbers. The Brown Pelicans breed along the cliffs at La Jolla Cove and are within spitting distance of people walking along the public footpath. It is a fantastic sight to see and the smell of guana is quite powerful!

Bird Rock

Brown Pelican

Brandt's Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

Royal Tern

Black Skimmer

Heermann's Gull

California Ground Squirrel

California Sealion

This Sealion has a piece of rope embedded in its neck. This will slowly kill the young Sealion as it grows. The rope will tighten and gradually cut off its ability to swallow and so will slowly starve to death. Very sad to see and highlights the need to clean up our seas. 

Harbour Seal (richardsi)

The Camera Gear - how it fared

As I was limited with what I could bring with me, I took my Canon 400mm f/5.6L lens for wildlife and my FujiFilm X100 for scenery etc. This was the first time I was taking the 400mm with me on a trip, so it was a bit risky not having used it in anger too much. I also used my HTC One to take photographs when I was walking around without my Fuji, even though it is a very poor camera. The 400mm behaved admirably, despite a lot of flight images being dumped due to blurriness. That was effectively user error as opposed to a dodgy lens. As there is no Image Stabilisation on the lens, a pair of steady hands and a steady platform is necessary really to capture sharp images. However, I am delighted that I know that this lens works well, managing to capture Hummingbirds in flight and seabirds in flight as well. I will have to practice using this lens more if I am going to bring it with me on trips such as this. This is going to be particularly important to do in poor light. The light in SD was actually quite nice and so shutter speed and aperture were never an issue. Overall, I am very pleased with the 400mm. 

All in all, a great trip to San Diego in terms of wildlife. I would love to head back during migration time and rent a car to check out other habitats such as marshes, estuaries, gardens, woodland, desert and mountains further afield in California or Mexico.