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Each fall I look forward to the return of the migratory shorebirds. After months spent on their breeding grounds, these incredible birds arrive on Florida beaches to refuel before continuing their journey across the Gulf to their wintering grounds in South America. Even the most common shorebirds feel exciting during this season, like running into an old friend I haven’t seen in far too long. Some individuals retain their bright breeding plumage and let us have a short glimpse of their summer fashions.

During migration most birds follow one of four specific routes through North America. These routes act as bird highways, so we call them flyways. Most of Florida sits squarely in the Atlantic Flyway, which helps birders predict which birds are most likely to pass through the Sunshine State. However, every now and then a little wind from the west and suddenly we get visitors from the Mississippi and Central flyways pausing for a brief feeding frenzy before continuing their journey. This year, such has been our luck for one of my favorite new shorebirds: the Buff-breasted Sandpiper.

The Buff-breasted Sandpiper is a small, unassuming shorebird that can be identified by the beautiful warm brown plumage, large eye, and mottled back. This remarkable species is visiting on its journey from high Arctic nesting grounds; after Florida they will eventually fly all the way to South America, where they overwinter in Brazil and Argentina among other countries. Unlike many of our coastal shorebirds in Florida this species relies heavily on short grass prairies throughout much of its range, frequenting livestock pastures and sod farms. This migration is over 18,000 miles round trip, one of the longest of any North American bird. One individual male was recorded traveling over 25,000 miles annually.

To visually see what these migration pathways Ô¼ÅÚÊÓƵ has developed a tool called the and Buff-breasted Sandpiper is one of the featured birds! I love selecting one of more than 450 species of bird in North America and watching how their migration flows throughout the year. It also allows me to take a look at some of the conservation challenges these birds face throughout their journeys. From this tool you can see how dependent the Buff-breasted Sandpiper is on good livestock practices and how vulnerable they are to climate change.

I enjoy watching these sandpipers now, because in a few weeks they’ll head south and I'll have to wait until the conditions align and they pass through again. Birds are our superpower. Their beauty, songs, and personalities capture the imagination of people around the world; their heroic migrations help us see the connections between distant habitats. Check out our email list or volunteer opportunities and work with us to protect places birds need now and into the future!