Birds of the Sierra: Spotted Sandpiper
Last summer, somewhere between buying a house and ripping out the entire kitchen and most of the bathroom within days of getting the keys, I managed to squeeze in a trip or two to one of my favorite places in the world, the mid-elevation mixed conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, and wrote up a quick series about a few of the more common birds encountered in that habitat, birds whose songs contribute to the voice of the forest: flame-colored Western Tanagers, melodious Black-headed Grosbeaks, whistling Western Wood-pewees, and diminutive Red-breasted Nuthatches.
This summer, between trips to the deserts and sky islands of Arizona in May and a visit to the swamps of South Carolina coming up in August, I plan to make a little more time for the mountains and forests closer to home! We spent the weekend of the 4th of July far from the madding crowds and fireworks of the valley, taking refuge in the quiet woods high in the Sierra. (But of course... so did thousands of other campers, hikers, fishers, boaters, etc. etc.) As always though, the farther from the roads, campgrounds and parking lots that you hike, the thinner the crowds become. And so we hiked off through the woods, losing the trail more than once under eighteen inches of snow, until we found ourselves in utter solitude at the top of Lake Alpine's Inspiration Point, overlooking a smattering of blue lakes far below.
The woods echoed with the raucous call of the Steller's Jay and the occasional nasal yank-yank-yank of the Red-breasted Nuthatch. We wandered into a flock of Mountain Chickadees and later, a foraging party of Golden-crowned Kinglets. Warblers called softly to each other high in the treetops, while woodpeckers drummed on tree trunks and Canada Geese, Mallards, Buffleheads and Common Mergansers bobbed on the lake. A brilliant male Mountain Bluebird flew in front of us at the top of Inspiration Point, perching momentarily on a snag, the bluest blue, shining like a piece of the sky itself.
One resident bird of the Sierra that we encountered along the lakeshore might come as a surprise to some. The Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) is a member of a family of birds (the sandpipers) more often associated with sandy beaches, mud flats and wave-crashed coasts than with quiet mountain lakes. We came across this Spotted Sandpiper calling frantically from a fallen log while we bumbled through the forest looking for the trail (lost under snow).
The Spotted Sandpiper is unusual also in that it is one of the only sandpipers to breed this far south. Nearly all of our sandpipers, like the Sanderlings, Least and Western Sandpipers, Surfbirds and turnstones we know from their winter visits to our coast, breed far to the north in Canada, Alaska and the Arctic. The "Spotty," however, breeds across the northern two-thirds of the United States, as well as in Canada and Alaska. Breeding habitat includes an assortment of freshwater habitats, such as lakeshores, pond edges and streamsides, often in a wooded or forested setting. Nests are typically within 100 yards of the water.
Like the other sandpipers that reside part-time in California, Spotted Sandpipers also pass through the Great Central Valley during migration and winter along our coast. I've spotted them (pun fully intended) around Elkhorn Slough in the winter and spring, and even in my own home town during migration, but discovering these sandpipers on their breeding grounds high in the Sierra Nevada mountains is a real treat!
We quickly realized why the adult sandpiper was making such a to-do: he was protecting three fluffy, downy young! I say "he" because male and female Spotted Sandpipers switch roles; the females defend their territory and perform courtship displays while the males incubate the eggs and care for the young.
Not wanting to disturb these precious little birds any more than we already inadvertently had, I snapped a couple of less-than-stellar-quality photos as the tiny balls of fluff scurried off into the undergrowth, and we turned around to look elsewhere for the missing trail!
This summer, between trips to the deserts and sky islands of Arizona in May and a visit to the swamps of South Carolina coming up in August, I plan to make a little more time for the mountains and forests closer to home! We spent the weekend of the 4th of July far from the madding crowds and fireworks of the valley, taking refuge in the quiet woods high in the Sierra. (But of course... so did thousands of other campers, hikers, fishers, boaters, etc. etc.) As always though, the farther from the roads, campgrounds and parking lots that you hike, the thinner the crowds become. And so we hiked off through the woods, losing the trail more than once under eighteen inches of snow, until we found ourselves in utter solitude at the top of Lake Alpine's Inspiration Point, overlooking a smattering of blue lakes far below.
The woods echoed with the raucous call of the Steller's Jay and the occasional nasal yank-yank-yank of the Red-breasted Nuthatch. We wandered into a flock of Mountain Chickadees and later, a foraging party of Golden-crowned Kinglets. Warblers called softly to each other high in the treetops, while woodpeckers drummed on tree trunks and Canada Geese, Mallards, Buffleheads and Common Mergansers bobbed on the lake. A brilliant male Mountain Bluebird flew in front of us at the top of Inspiration Point, perching momentarily on a snag, the bluest blue, shining like a piece of the sky itself.
One resident bird of the Sierra that we encountered along the lakeshore might come as a surprise to some. The Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) is a member of a family of birds (the sandpipers) more often associated with sandy beaches, mud flats and wave-crashed coasts than with quiet mountain lakes. We came across this Spotted Sandpiper calling frantically from a fallen log while we bumbled through the forest looking for the trail (lost under snow).
The Spotted Sandpiper is unusual also in that it is one of the only sandpipers to breed this far south. Nearly all of our sandpipers, like the Sanderlings, Least and Western Sandpipers, Surfbirds and turnstones we know from their winter visits to our coast, breed far to the north in Canada, Alaska and the Arctic. The "Spotty," however, breeds across the northern two-thirds of the United States, as well as in Canada and Alaska. Breeding habitat includes an assortment of freshwater habitats, such as lakeshores, pond edges and streamsides, often in a wooded or forested setting. Nests are typically within 100 yards of the water.
Like the other sandpipers that reside part-time in California, Spotted Sandpipers also pass through the Great Central Valley during migration and winter along our coast. I've spotted them (pun fully intended) around Elkhorn Slough in the winter and spring, and even in my own home town during migration, but discovering these sandpipers on their breeding grounds high in the Sierra Nevada mountains is a real treat!
We quickly realized why the adult sandpiper was making such a to-do: he was protecting three fluffy, downy young! I say "he" because male and female Spotted Sandpipers switch roles; the females defend their territory and perform courtship displays while the males incubate the eggs and care for the young.
Not wanting to disturb these precious little birds any more than we already inadvertently had, I snapped a couple of less-than-stellar-quality photos as the tiny balls of fluff scurried off into the undergrowth, and we turned around to look elsewhere for the missing trail!
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