Sanderlings are one of our most common shorebirds during the spring, fall, and especially, winter months. They are also one of the easiest to identify because they look almost white when flying and are the bird you are most likely to see running back and forth between the ocean waves on the beach.

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Sanderlings feed heavily on mole crabs at the surfline in the fall at Sandy Hook. They often times rest on one foot and this may also conserve heat. They can even hop on one foot, but are not injured, just resting that foot.

Get a bird book and see if you can identify this fall migrant seen at Sandy Hook. Send your guesses on the back of a $20 bill to: Ocean Institute at Sandy Hook, Box 533, Sandy Hook, NJ 07732.

Terns will leave the bay by early November and not return until April. They must migrate south to find open water that has not frozen over where they can catch baitfish.

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Forsters terns are the last tern that we see in Sandy Hook Bay. They migrate here from the west and sometimes linger until November before heading south to the Carolinas. They are also the first tern to return in the spring.

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One of the most abundant year round residents of the shore is the black backed gull. This is a young bird that will not develop its distinctive black "saddle back" until its third year.

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The adult black-backed gull is unmistakable and the largest gull in the world, at 30 inches, nearly twice as long as the laughing gull.

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The laughing gull is our most common summer gull and breed in New Jersey. They are easy to recognize from their call. In the summer their head is black and in the fall they lose most of that coloration while they are migrating south.

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Ring-billed gulls are larger than laughing gulls but smaller than their look alike cousin, the herring gull.

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