sanderling
Feb. 3rd, 2016 08:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordsanderling (SAN-der-ling) - n., a small sandpiper (Calidris alba) that breeds in the high Arctic and winters on sandy beaches and estuaries worldwide.
Really meaning worldwide -- it can be found off-season throughout the southern hemisphere as well as the temperate and tropical north. Plumage is white and light grey out of breeding season, which turns ruddy-brown above while breeding. Exact derivation of the name is unclear -- sand is from its preferred habitat, but whether the ending is -ling or -erling, an old form of earthling in the sense of plowman, is disputed, absent firm evidence.
---L.
Really meaning worldwide -- it can be found off-season throughout the southern hemisphere as well as the temperate and tropical north. Plumage is white and light grey out of breeding season, which turns ruddy-brown above while breeding. Exact derivation of the name is unclear -- sand is from its preferred habitat, but whether the ending is -ling or -erling, an old form of earthling in the sense of plowman, is disputed, absent firm evidence.
---L.
