Welcome to You Ask Andy

  Judith Krause, age 11, of Allentown, Penna., for her question:

 What is a sandpiper?

Most of the sandpipers enjoy life on the beach. They are long-legged, long‑billed, sandy colored birds. Their delicately toned plumage of grey, brown, white and chestnut blends in perfectly with the colors of the seashore. They do not seem to mind sharing their beaches with us, though they are careful to keep at a safe distance. We can watch them running along the wet sand and hear their piping conversations. But, if we approach them, their long, thin legs take them running off in another direction.

There are some ___ members of the sandpiper family, Most though not all of them are shore birds. The woodcock is a sandpiper who never goes near sand or water. He is a fat, solitary fellow with a big head and alert bright eyes. He is dressed suitably for life in the woods and meadows. The snipe is also a dry land sandpiper. Both these birds have long bills, long thin legs and webless feet, They also run swiftly like their cousins who live on the beaches.

The lively sandpipers seem to populate the beaches all through the year. But actually there are more of them during the winter months. During the summer months only a few of them remains for most of the sandpipers fly far up to the tundra regions td build their nests. Like most birds, they prefer to bring up their children in a northern climate and fly south for the winter. But the climate of the United States and most of Canada is quite warm enough for the sandpipers to spend the winter.

Most of them are ready to fly north in May. This is the time of year when the birds who went farther south for the winter are also flying north. As they prepare for the long journey, some of the sandpipers molt and grow a more speckled plumage.

During the few summer months the northern tundra is warm and teeming with insects. The sandpipers arrive and build their nests, if you can call them nests. There are no trees in this region, so the nests must be on the ground. The parents find a hollow dent in the ground and they may or may not go to the trouble of lining it with grasses.

Family life among the sandpipers is a turnabout. The two parents are modestly dressed, but mama has the gayer plumage. This is rare in the bird world. Strange to say, it is the lady sandpiper who does the courting. When she has chosen and won her husband she lays four speckled eggs in the nest.

She arranges them with the pointed ends towards the center then ‑ you guessed it. Off she goes, leaving papa to sit on the eggs until they hatch.

Bringing up the babies is no problem at all. They are very capable chicks from the very first day. Off they run on toothpick legs to find food and fend for themselves. At first the fluffy youngsters blend in with the mottled dark tundra ground. By July they are fully grown with dark plumage on their backs and creamy plumage on their chests. It is time now to fly south and join us on our beaches. There they will feast on worms, small crustaceans and insects until the following May.

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