Jeffrey A. Gordon

Try to conjure up an image of your favorite seaside locale. Many will think of sand and sun and summer, long stretches of lounging punctuated by a refreshing dip in a tranquil, blue ocean. Very few, I would wager, will imagine a cold day in February, clambering over jagged, seaweed-slicked boulders while crashing surf sprays all around, constantly threatening to sweep the unwary into the churning sea. But that latter scene is just the ticket for Purple Sandpipers. In fact, I bet about the only point where human and Purple Sanpiper tastes might agree is that the beach is a good place to get fresh seafood.

This is a day at the beach for Purple Sandpipers…scuttling about, trying to snatch prey from amongst the seaweed and mussel beds, always keeping an eye cocked for that next wave and knowing, with very little margin for error, which waves can be ridden out and which require winged relocation.

Here’s a Purple Sanpiper in late November, in its basic or winter plumage, during a moment of near repose, a few feet away from more treacherous feeding grounds at the water’s edge.

About the only place we have in Delaware that Purple Sandpipers like are jetties and breakwaters in or near the Atlantic Ocean. Our lovely sandy beaches leave them–figuratively–cold, as real cold seems not to register with them at all.

Above and below are shots of Indian River Inlet, the best place in Delaware to see Purple Sandpipers, beginning in mid-to-late October. Also the best spot for surfing and among our premier fishing locales.

Given that their High Arctic breeding grounds take so long to ice out, Purple Sandpipers stay with us fairly late in the Spring, often lingering into May, sometimes early June. The Purple Sandpiper I photographed for the Peterson Eastern guide was, on May 5th, 2009, just about molted into its breeding plumage, being much more spangled and spotty than the November bird above. Neither seems obviously purple, of course–that color is restricted to a dull iridescent sheen on some of the back and shoulder feathers. You’ve got to be in just the right angle and light to see it at all. One of those museum-drawer characters for which so many birds are named.

I like this shot for a couple reasons, not only the Purple caught mid-step, but also the way the foreground boulder frames it and the way the Ruddy Turnstone melds with the seaweeds into a colorful backdrop. Neither of these latter elements is visible in the book, though. Instead it functions as a head shot, sitting atop the Table of Contents on page vii. I think it works that way, too. And you can still see that raised foot, which I think is nice.

PS: You did see the sandpiper in the uppermost image, right? It’s just barely peeking over the rock at the upper right.

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