[many spotted sandpipers on Jetty Island]

On Great Gull Island on Long Island Sound in New York (another tern
nesting colony, coincidentally) Spotted Sandpipers were common breeders
all over the island. So apparently, even though I too associate them with
freshwater streams and lakes, they are happy nesting on islands surrounded
by salt water. The nests on Great Gull were in grassy areas and at the
edge of paved areas, away from the shoreline.

Chris Hill
Everett, WA
cehill at u.washington.edu