Sanderlings at Ft Funston 11/29/25

On a foggy winter day like today, I thought it would be nice to go back and work on some of the Sanderling footage I shot last month.  Sanderlings almost invariably put a smile on my face.  They are so cute, especially with their little legs moving at lightning speed.  All of this footage has been slowed down a bit so that you can see them a little better.  Watching all of them out on the beach is almost like watching organized chaos.  These little guys are hatched up in the arctic and make an amazingly long journey, especially for their size.  They travel thousands of miles down the coast, some even travel to South America.  One year I photographed a Sanderling with a tag and I submitted the tag information.  I ended up getting put in contact with the researcher who tagged that bird, which he said he had just done up in Canada a few weeks earlier.  These little guys are amazing.  

The little squabbles over the sand crabs they pull up are fun to watch, but they’re serious business for the birds.  They need all the nutrition they can get to fly the incredible distances they do.  

I debated whether to add a music track or leave the original ocean sounds.  I love listening to the ocean so much, but I eventually decided a little playful music felt right for the day.