Western sandpiper

Description

Adults have dark legs and a short, thin, dark bill, thinner at the tip. The body is brown on top and white underneath. They are reddish-brown on the crown. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds, especially the semipalmated sandpiper. This is particularly the case in winter plumage, when both species are plain grey. The western sandpiper acquires winter plumage much earlier in the autumn than the semipalmated sandpiper.

Measurements:

• Length: 14 –
• Wingspan: 35 –
• Weight: 22 –

Breeding

Their breeding habitat is tundra in eastern Siberia and Alaska. They nest on the ground usually under some vegetation. The male makes several scrapes; the female selects one and lays four eggs. Both parents incubate and care for dependent young, who feed themselves. Sometimes the female deserts her mate and brood prior to offspring fledging.

Migration

They migrate to both coasts of North America and South America, as well as the Caribbean. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

Diet

These birds forage on mudflats during migration and the non-breeding season by probing or picking up food by sight. Foraging occurs on tundra and wet meadows during the breeding season. They had been thought to mainly eat insects, spiders, small crustaceans, mollusks, polychaete worms, and seeds, but are now known to heavily graze on biofilm from the surface of intertidal mudflats.

References

References

1. BirdLife International. (2016). "''Calidris mauri''".
2. Jobling, James A. (2010). "The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names". Christopher Helm.
3. Morrison, R. I. G.. (2006). "Population Estimates of Nearctic Shorebirds". Waterbirds: The International Journal of Waterbird Biology.
4. (2022). "Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
5. "Western Sandpiper Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology".
6. "Calidris mauri (Western sandpiper)".