Sandy Shore & Aviary Animals

Red phalarope

Red and red-necked phalaropes share the same pond in our aviary. You can tell them apart by size and color. Red phalaropes are larger, with shorter, thicker bills and brighter colors. In breeding season, female red phalaropes sport distinctive chestnut-red bellies.

Snowy plover

The snowy plover is the smallest and whitest of the North American plovers. Unlike ringed plovers that have a dark neckband, a snowy plover wears just two black patches on its shoulders.

Bat ray

Bat rays swim gracefully by flapping their batlike wings (pectoral fins) bird style—a feature that gives these rays their common name and their family name, “eagle rays.” They are found in muddy and sandy bottom bays, kelp forests and close to coral reefs.

Bay ghost shrimp

A resident of marine sloughs and bay flats on the west coast of North America, ghost shrimp burrow in seafloor sediments. These burrows protect the shrimps’ soft, white bodies. But more important, as the shrimp wriggle along, they collect food from the sediments and from the water flowing through the burrows.

Leopard shark

Leopard sharks have a reputation for being docile toward people, says Manny Ezcurra, who has handled the Aquarium’s leopard sharks since 1996. “But they’re not so docile toward invertebrates and small fishes. We have to be careful about who we put in the exhibit with them,” he says.