This is a common behavior most usually associated with roosting.
As you may well imagine, sleeping on a cold windy beach can cost
quite a bit of energy. Heat loss through unprotected legs can be
substantial. Tucking one leg in cuts energy losses through the legs
in half while leaving some measure of mobility. Shorebirds that are
really serious about energy conservation while roosting, hunker down in
depressions in the sand, usually some larger animals foot prints.


>
>
>While watching a mixed flock of Dunlin and Western Sandpipers a couple of
>days ago, I thought I was seeing a one-legged Dunlin, because it kept
>hopping around on one leg while actively feeding, not just standing on one
>leg to rest. But then I saw a couple of others doing the same thing and
>I realized that they couldn't all be one-legged. Has anyone else seen
>this behavior? Is it common in Dunlin, or in calidridines generally? I
>find no reference to it in books on shorebirds, including Dennis
>Paulson's. Dennis is away for a while; maybe someone else knows.
>
>Burt Guttman guttmanb at elwha.evergreen.edu
>The Evergreen State College Voice: 360-866-6000, x. 6755
>Olympia, WA 98505 FAX: 360-866-6794
>
>
>

--
********************************
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * "Time flies like an arrow;
* mpatters at ednet1.osl.or.gov * fruit flies like a banana."
******************************** - Groucho Marx