While kayaking in the wetlands at Carter Fields in North Andover, it was an unexpected surprise to encounter a Solitary Sandpiper!  The morning was warm with very light winds and beautiful early morning sunlight.  The Great Horned Owls were nowhere to be found.  A tree swallow dive bombed an object just ahead and it turned out be a Solitary Sandpiper.  This sandpiper is a fairly common migrant is usually seen alone in wet meadows, muddy ponds, wooded streams and beaver ponds.  This sandpiper breeds in marshy areas with scattered trees from central Alaska and southern Canada to Labrador and Quebec.