Sanderling

The sanderling is a small wading bird and a circumpolar Arctic breeder, nesting only on the coldest tundra. It is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to South America, western and southern Europe, Africa and Australia, and is highly gregarious in winter, sometimes forming large flocks on coastal mudflats or sandy beaches. It is similar in size to a dunlin but stouter with a thick bill, and unusual among small sandpipers in lacking a hind toe (Wikipedia, general species account).

It shows a strong white wing bar in flight and runs along sandy beaches with a bicycling action of the legs, stopping often to pick up small food items such as small crabs and other invertebrates. On the breeding grounds it lays three to four eggs in a ground scrape (Wikipedia, general species account).