Rising Tide Images
Tattler in the Sand
A wandering tattler runs along the beach searching for crustaceans in the sand that are exposed by the receding waves. Uncommon in breeding plumage in its nonbreeding range, I’m not sure if it’s an early migratory return or if it’s a young bird that oversummered in the tropics. I also observed it chasing other tattlers on the shoreline. With an expansive migratory range, the wandering tattler lives up to its common name. ‘Ūlili, the Hawaiian name, resembles the tattler’s alarm call. ‘Ūlili were considered messengers and scouts of the gods. A magnificent navigator, many tattlers annually migrate between Alaska, Siberia, and Canada to tropical Pacific islands on a high endurance non-stop flight of 72 to 96 hours. Using the stars and the earth’s magnetic field, perhaps visually perceived with magnetoreception molecules of cryptochrome in its retina, ‘ūlili find a route over thousands of miles of featureless open ocean.
Tattler in the Sand
A wandering tattler runs along the beach searching for crustaceans in the sand that are exposed by the receding waves. Uncommon in breeding plumage in its nonbreeding range, I’m not sure if it’s an early migratory return or if it’s a young bird that oversummered in the tropics. I also observed it chasing other tattlers on the shoreline. With an expansive migratory range, the wandering tattler lives up to its common name. ‘Ūlili, the Hawaiian name, resembles the tattler’s alarm call. ‘Ūlili were considered messengers and scouts of the gods. A magnificent navigator, many tattlers annually migrate between Alaska, Siberia, and Canada to tropical Pacific islands on a high endurance non-stop flight of 72 to 96 hours. Using the stars and the earth’s magnetic field, perhaps visually perceived with magnetoreception molecules of cryptochrome in its retina, ‘ūlili find a route over thousands of miles of featureless open ocean.