still in winter plumage. Most of the others I saw were in breeding plumage
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Calidris pusilla
High Island,
Galveston Co., Texas
21 May 2013
White-rumped Sandpiper
Calidris fuscicollis
High Island,
Galveston Co., Texas
21 May 2013
Stilt Sandpiper
High Island, Texas
21 May 2013
I was at High Island this morning under dark, cloudy, misty conditions so I had to use a high ISO, so the images are not great, but I saw a pair of Stilt Sandpipers engage in behavior I had not seen in 40 years of looking at birds. Two birds were engaged in some sort of battle, which does happen, but one bird held the other under water for quite some time and I thought the loser would drown. Somehow the loser got up, fought back and they both flew away out of sight, still one chasing the other, so I do not know the outcome, but they definitely were not happy with one another. I'll try to post the whole series of images because I think it is quite unusual behavior.
The calidrids or typical waders are a group of Arctic-breeding, strongly migratory wading birds. These birds form huge mixed flocks on coasts and estuaries in winter. They are the typical "sandpipers", small to medium-sized, long-winged and relatively short-billed.
