The crashing wave's foaming water raced to cover the sand, forcing me to walk a zigzagging path to keep my feet dry. Meanwhile sandpipers hunted with the rhythm of the ocean, scouring the draining sand in search of a meal left by the inundation. Such a walk along the beach is one of my happiest memories, reminding me of childhood vacations along the Jersey Shore and future trips to exotic ports of call in the Caribbean.
But I learned recently that you don't have to travel to a saltwater beach to see sandpipers; merely check out the closest lake, stream, or river near wherever you live. Yes, I'm referring to even my own landlocked desert city of Phoenix.
I frequently write about the birds along my jogging route: the ruddy ducks on park lakes, nesting great-horn owls on the golf course, the Harris's hawks roosting on a lamp post. Very recently it was on the Arizona Canal very close to my home where I spotted my first sandpipers in the area.
The birds seem to be taking advantage of the low water trickling through the canal as a local utility cleans the waterway. As a result, the water level is only fractions of an inch rather than a couple of feet, a perfect depth for sandpipers to wade and snoop for insects and tiny crustaceans.
Not long ago, I discovered that sandpipers and many other shorebirds I associate with the ocean also inhabit fresh water locales throughout their lives. As a result, no matter where you live in North America there's probably a season where you can observe a snipe, curlew, yellowlegs, or dowitcher, all members of the same bird family as sandpipers.
The sandpipers in my neighborhood have migrated from their summer breeding grounds located as far away as Alaska and northern Canada. They appear to be least sandpipers, the smallest of any species with that name. About the size of white-crowned sparrows, other visiting birds, the sandpipers are gathering in small groups. I've observed them in a flock containing as few as five individuals, but noticed a larger gathering yesterday, with as many as a dozen birds.
By the end of February, the canal will be cleaned of sticks, mud, and the occasional stray shopping card from nearby Safeway, with the water flowing at its normal level again. Too deep for a wading bird like the sandpiper, the waterway will host mostly dabbling and diving varieties of ducks. The sandpipers will be gone, just a memory, another bookmark denoting a fond recollection.
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| Least sandpipers on the Arizona Canal near the Biltmore Resort, February 2022. |
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| Least sandpipers on the Arizona Canal near the Biltmore Resort, February 2022. |
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| Least sandpipers on the Arizona Canal near the Biltmore Resort, February 2022. |
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| Least Sandpipers on the Arizona Canal near the Biltmore Resort, February 2022. |
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