Art by Barry Kent MacKay
An All-Creatures.org
Art and Photo Presentation

(Artwork - 086)
Willet (Tringa semipalmata) and Sanderling (Calidris alba)

This painting shows a single Willet (Tringa semipalmata) on the far left, along with a group of Sanderlings (Calidris alba) as they might occur in spring on the east coast of North America.  
 
The Willet is pretty much a species of the western hemisphere, with two distinct subspecies, one on the east coast and one on the west.  They are well known for their bold, black and white wing pattern, mostly obscured when the wings are folded, but very conspicuous when open.  
 
Sanderlings, on the other hand, have a worldwide distribution, thus can be shown in association with a wide range of other bird species.  They nest in the far north, up into the arctic, and are highly migratory, wintering well into the southern hemisphere.   They are well known for their habit of running quickly along the beach, often just at the waterline.   In this painting I have shown birds in fully adult red plumage, but there is a lot of variation, and sometimes one sees birds still in the pale winter plumage, or mostly in the pale juvenile plumage, or in various stages of moult.
 
The painting is approximately life size, and is in acrylic, on gesso, on compressed hardboard.

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