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Ocean Tidal Flats Sandy Beach Dunes Salt Marsh
Tidal flats are created by swift currents and exposed when the tide goes out. Sand and mud flats in coastal wetlands provide food for migratory shorebirds. Each species finds the zone for its foraging style and appetite. Adjacent upland and transitional habitats provide nesting and roosting areas.
CLICK HERE TO SEE SHOREBIRD MIGRATION ROUTES CLICK HERE TO SEE HABITAT MAP OF PLYMOUTH BEACH
Hudsonian Godwit
Pectoral Sandpiper PHOTO: 1
pectoral sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpipers generally avoid sandy beaches for grassy plains and freshwater flats. Nonetheless, in mid-summer, close observers on Plymouth Beach may find one or two of these "grass-pipers" among large flocks of other roosting sandpipers. Resembling giant Least Sandpipers, the Pectorals that we see are migrants en route from Northwest Canada to South America, using the tidal flats and open beach to rest and rebuild diminished fat stores.
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