My better half and I were able to join friends on a beach walk yesterday. We hiked a little more than five miles from Goleta to Santa Barbara, and along the way we saw at least eleven sandpipers.
At least, I think the birds we saw were sandpipers. Perhaps those of you who are birders can help with the identifications.
All of the birds we were lumping in the category of sandpipers were wading along the shoreline and periodically poking their beaks in the sand, presumably to harvest and eat some tasty morsels.
However, while these birds all looked pretty similar from a distance, on closer inspection we noticed some differences.
Some of these birds had fairly long beaks.
Others had relatively short beaks.
And some of them had beaks with a definite downward curve to them.
I suspect that the ones with the curved beaks are some manner of curlew, although I couldn’t tell you precisely which sort. However, as far as the birds with the straighter beaks, whether long or short, I have very little idea (despite detailed classification information online) just what we were looking at.
Can you identify these birds for us? Or give us some tips as to the key features we should be noticing to distinguish various members of the sandpiper family from each other?