Randolph County, WV is not exactly the shorebird hotspot of the state. I never once thought about seeing a Sanderling (Calidris alba) here. Rich Bailey; the new state ornitholigist reported seeing some Sanderlings at the Elkins Wal-Mart on the morning of 9/8/11. I did not see his post on WV Bird; until that night. I went the next morning with hopes that they would be hanging around; still.
I arrived at Wal-Mart at first light; the water puddles had already dried up. I sat around a little while and decided to go look for some water. I found a puddle behind the Rent-A-Center. There were 6 Killdeer and 2 Greater Yellowlegs in the puddle. No Sanderlings. I scanned the parking lot and there was a lone Semipalmated Plover sleeping near K-Mart. I was getting ready to go across the road where some new construction is taking place (large muddy area); when a truck came flying through the lot. Two Sanderlings flew into the puddle. Nice. I was able to get a few photos; before a street sweeper came and ran everything except for the Starlings off.
For those who are not familiar with the Sanderling, it is an Arctic breeder and is the little bird that you see chasing waves at the beach. It isn't something that you would expect to find in Elkins, WV. These photos were shot in low light at 800 ISO and are a little on the grainy side. Also; I never post high resolution photos in cyberland. I always shoot RAW files and have high resolution photos available.
Photos by
High Virginia Images (c) 2011 All Rights Reserved
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