Don’t get me wrong. Sea Gulls can be cute in their own way (especially if you don’t feed them!), but I love the variety of wildlife that can be found at Southern California beaches. On this particular visit, when Salt Creek was over-flowing from its usual path, flooding the sandy beach area, I came across these sandpipers.
Normally, I find more of the Least Terns and Gulls hanging out around the creek.
Today, there appeared to be more sandpipers, and the terns were absent.
These particular sandpipers are called Long-billed Curlews, presumably because of their distinct beaks, which are helpful in digging for food. Long-billed Curlews are the largest sandpipers in southern California, yet, their numbers are dwindling. It is possible that climate change is related to their decline, since they feed off of invertebrates that are also impacted by an increase in oceanic acidification from climate change. Ironically, I try not to focus too much on the fact that I drove to the beach and am contributing to climate change; after all, I am trying to find some peacefulness and enjoy nature.
Along my beach walk, I always see sandpipers of various types, including the Long-billed Curlews, digging quickly and efficiently for little clams and sand crabs. It’s quite entertaining to watch them try to dig up food before the tide gets to them.
Have you seen any interesting birds lately? Share in the comments below!
Peaceful at Dawn 
After reading the post, I suddenly realised its been a long time since I observed birds. Today, I took some time to see the birds returning to their nest. What I saw was a “Cuckoo”; she was beautiful. Couldn’t figure out the variant of cuckoo though!
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I bet that was awesome to see! I love finding birds that have nests or babies with them. I don’t think we have any cuckoo birds where I live.
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Yes. It was! I tried to capture a photo. But you know it’s really hard. They are so sensitive to human movement. Will share it if I get one 🙂
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