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Semipalmated sandpipers are extremely abundant in summer on the north slope tundra of Alaska. These normally quiet little shorebirds noisily display, with butterfly-like hovering flights accompanied by loud trilling calls. The newly-hatched chicks were only an hour or so old; they will shortly leave the nest permanently to follow their parents and feed on the rich insect life of the tundra. The winter plumage is quite gray compared to the breeding plumage. The photos were taken near Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), on Alaska's north coast, and for the winter-plumaged birds, the Salton Sea and Carmel, California. |
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