Sanderling

Sanderling (Calidris alba) is a pale, energetic sandpiper with black legs and bill, white winter plumage and rusty breeding head and breast. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It runs along wave edges probing and pecking for small crustaceans and worms, migrating between Arctic tundra and global beaches. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).