Funny enough I noticed this behavior too and assumed the same! I wasn't
able to dig up any info either. I assumed it had to be their way of
agitating small inverts to either come closer to the surface or locate them

On Sun, Jan 10, 2021, 14:12 Greg Harrington <gregtheteacher at gmail.com>
wrote:


> Greetings!

>

> About a month ago I was out at the coast watching some Semipalmated

> Plovers feeding in the tidal zone. It was really cold and I noticed one

> bird's leg shaking -; and being rather cold myself I assumed at first it was

> shivering. Looking over at another one I saw it doing the same thing -; and

> I wondered at that point if it was shaking its leg a part of a

> probing/feeding behavior. I have not really found any info about this, but

> it makes sense since their bills are too short to probe the mud it makes

> sense to me that they'd have an alternative means for sensing or finding

> snacks.

>

> If anyone has any insights or has seen similar behavior I'd enjoy hearing

> more.

>

> In terms of an early Spring -; I have a coneflower plant that is putting

> out a bloom which is astonishing since it is about 5 months too early!

>

> Happy Birding,

> Greg Harrington

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>

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