Sharp-tailed sandpiper: Difference between revisions
Rogermccart (talk | contribs) m →Taxonomy: Changed 'to sharpen' to 'sharp, pointed' |
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{{short description|Species of bird}} |
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The '''sharp-tailed sandpiper''' ('''''Calidris acuminata''''') (but see below) is a small [[wader]]. |
The '''sharp-tailed sandpiper''' ('''''Calidris acuminata''''') (but see below) is a small migratory [[wader]] or shorebird, found mostly in Siberia breeding over summer (June - August) and Australia for wintering (September - March). |
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== Taxonomy == |
== Taxonomy == |
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The genus name is from [[Ancient Greek]] ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by [[Aristotle]] for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''acuminata'' is from [[Latin]] ''acuminatus'', 'sharp, pointed'.<ref name=job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n31 31], 84}}</ref> |
The genus name is from [[Ancient Greek]] ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by [[Aristotle]] for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''acuminata'' is from [[Latin]] ''acuminatus'', 'sharp, pointed'.<ref name=job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n31 31], 84}}</ref> |
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== Distribution and |
== Distribution and occurance == |
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Sharp-tailed sandpipers are strongly [[bird migration|migratory]], breeding solely in eastern [[Siberia]] from the [[Taymyr Peninsula|Taimyr Penninsula]] to [[Chaunskaya Bay|Chaun Bay]] in Chukotka. They have a complex migration, with Adults departing Siberia in July and juveniles in August to head south, where the majority of the population winters in [[Australasia]]. They largely take two routes with the majority of post-breeding adults flying south in flocks of less than 1000, east of [[Lake Baikal]], to the Pacific coast of [[Russia]] and the [[Yellow Sea]] coasts of [[China]] and [[Korea]]. They mostly all fly direct to Micronesia and New Guinea in late August, departing here with the onset of the wetseason to north-west Australia in mid September. They start moving towards south-east Australia with numbers peaking in December to February. The other route heads east, taking most juveniles but a few adults into [[Alaska]] across the [[Bering Strait]]. Staying here from mid August to late October to fatten, it is presumed they take a direct non-stop trans-Pacific flight of more than 10,000 km to reach [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]]. Some will continue south along the Pacific coast of [[North America]] into [[Washington (state)|Washington state]], less frequently to [[California]] and possibly into [[Latin America]] but only two recent records occur in [[Panama]] and [[Bolivia]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Allport |first=Gary |date=2018-12-14 |title=First records of Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Calidris acuminata for Mozambique and continental Africa, and additional records of Pectoral Sandpiper C. melanotos in Mozambique, with comments on identification and patterns of occurrence |url=https://bioone.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-british-ornithologists-club/volume-138/issue-4/bboc.v138i4.2018.a3/First-records-of-Sharp-tailed-Sandpiper-Calidris-acuminata-for-Mozambique/10.25226/bboc.v138i4.2018.a3.full |journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club |volume=138 |issue=4 |pages=307 |doi=10.25226/bboc.v138i4.2018.a3 |issn=0007-1595}}</ref> |
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It breeds in the boggy tundra of [[Palearctic|northeast Asia]] and is strongly [[bird migration|migratory]], wintering in south east Asia and [[Australasia]]. It occurs as a rare autumn migrant to [[North America]], but in western [[Europe]] only as a very rare vagrant. There is a single documented record from [[South America]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Knowlton |first=Will H. |date=2016 |title=Sharp-tailed sandpiper ''Calidris acuminata'' in Bolivia: first documented record for South America |journal=Cotinga |volume=38 |pages=20–22 }}</ref> |
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It occurs as a rare autumn migrant to [[North America]], but in western [[Europe]] only as a very rare vagrant with records in 11 different countries, mostly in the United Kindgom between August and October. It has been recorded in the Middle East and Central Asia, six times in Kazakhstan, once in Yeman and Oman. Within the Indian Ocean they have been documented at Christmas Island four times, totalling 16 birds between October and December. Three recorded observations at Cocos Island in Novmeber and December. Five records at the Chagos archipelago from September to December. Five records at the Seychelles, one in July, two in September to February overwintering and two on passage in November. They have been recently documented in Mozambique southern Africa for the first time in 2018.<ref name=":0" /> |
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== Description == |
== Description == |
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This bird looks a lot like the pectoral sandpiper, within whose Asian range it breeds. It differs from that species in its breast pattern, stronger [[supercilium]] and more rufous crown. It has some similarities to the [[long-toed stint]], but is much larger than the [[stint]]. |
This bird looks a lot like the pectoral sandpiper, within whose Asian range it breeds. It differs from that species in its breast pattern, stronger [[supercilium]] and more rufous crown. It has some similarities to the [[long-toed stint]], but is much larger than the [[stint]]. |
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== Habitat == |
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In Siberia the breeding ground are mostly tundra made up of peat-hummock and lichen. On passage between breeding and wintering areas they favor the muddy edges of shallow freshwater or brackish wetlands with grass, emergent or inundated sedges, saltmarsh or other low vegetation. These include swamps, lakes, lagoons, and pools near coasts, waterholes, dams, saltpans and hypersaline salt lakes inland<ref name=":0" />. In Alaska they seem to prefer coastal moist graminoid meadows and riverine intertidally exposed mudbanks<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Handel |first=Colleen M. |last2=Robert E. Gill |first2=Jr |date=2010-09-01 |title=Wayward Youth: Trans-Beringian Movement and Differential Southward Migration by Juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpipers |url=https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64546 |journal=ARCTIC |language=en |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=273–288 |doi=10.14430/arctic1492 |issn=1923-1245}}</ref>. In Australia they are largely found around wetlands, preferring freshwater inland wetlands with grassy edges<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=July 2021 |title=Sharp-tailed sandpiper - Threatend Fauna of the Hunter and Mid Coast |url=https://www.lls.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/1325300/SharpTailedSandpiper-web.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=05/06/2023 |website=Local Land Services}}</ref>. Once these epheneral terrestrial wetlands have dried out they tend to be on coastal mudflats, salt marsh and brackish lagoons and less often on similar wet fields of short grass<ref name=":0" />. Other areas they have been spotted in Australia include around sewage farms, flooded fields, mangroves, rocky shores and beaches<ref name=":1" />. |
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== Behaviour == |
== Behaviour == |
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=== Breeding === |
=== Breeding === |
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They breed from to June to August in the short Siberian summer, making shallow hollow lined nests with leave and grass that are hidden on the ground. The clutch size is usually four eggs, with the females incubating and raising the chicks<ref>{{Cite web |title=Calidris acuminata, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper |url=https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/species/8200 |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=Museums Victoria Collections}}</ref>. The breeding plumage is more vivid, with breast feathers greater in chestnut colour and their chevron-shaped markings becoming more defined<ref name=":1" />. |
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Little is known of the breeding habits of this species, although it nests on the ground, and the male has a display flight. |
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=== Foraging and feeding === |
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These birds forage on the edge of wetlands, intertidal mudflats, either on sand or bare wet mud and in shallow water. They will also forage among inundated vegetation of grass, sedges or saltmarsh. After rain they can be found in paddocks of short grass, well away from water. At low tides they can be found on the intertidal mudflats, before moving inland to freshwater wetlands at the high tide. Occasionaly they forage on dry or wet mats of algae, among rotting seaweed or seagrass on beaches, edges of stony wetlands and exposed reefs<ref>{{Cite web |date=05/06/2023 |title=Species Profile and Threats Database - Calidris acuminata — Sharp-tailed Sandpiper |url=http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=874#:~:text=The%20Sharp%2Dtailed%20Sandpiper%20spends,both%20freshwater%20and%20saline%20habitats. |website=Species Profile and Threats Database}}</ref>. Picking up food by sight or sometimes by probing, they mainly eat aquatic [[insects]], molluscs, crustaceans, worms, occasionally seeds and other [[invertebrates]]<ref name=":1" />. |
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These birds forage on grasslands and mudflats, like the pectoral sandpiper, picking up food by sight, sometimes by probing. They mainly eat [[insects]] and other [[invertebrates]]. |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 10:56, 5 June 2023
| Sharp-tailed sandpiper | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Scolopacidae |
| Genus: | Calidris |
| Species: | C. acuminata
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| Binomial name | |
| Calidris acuminata Horsfield, 1821
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The sharp-tailed sandpiper (Calidris acuminata) (but see below) is a small migratory wader or shorebird, found mostly in Siberia breeding over summer (June - August) and Australia for wintering (September - March).
Taxonomy
A review of data has indicated that this bird should perhaps better be placed into the genus Philomachus – as P. acuminatus – which now contains only the ruff, but if the sharp-tailed sandpiper is merged into it, it would need to accommodate the broad-billed sandpiper.[2]
While the latter is a peculiar calidrid, the sharp-tailed sandpiper is much more similar to other Calidris/Erolia species such as the pectoral sandpiper. On the one hand, its larger size and long-legged stance, and the breast pattern which gradually fades away on the belly as in the ruff instead of having a fairly sharp border as in the Calidris/Erolia stints indicate that placement in Philomachus may be correct. Still, it is just as possible that – given the fairly common instances of hybridization in calidrines – mitochondrial DNA data has given a false picture of this species' true affinities. The curlew sandpiper, which is a proposed parent of the hybrid called "Cooper's sandpiper" ("Calidris" × cooperi) together with the sharp-tailed sandpiper, is another unusual calidrid that is hard to place systematically.
The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific acuminata is from Latin acuminatus, 'sharp, pointed'.[3]
Distribution and occurance
Sharp-tailed sandpipers are strongly migratory, breeding solely in eastern Siberia from the Taimyr Penninsula to Chaun Bay in Chukotka. They have a complex migration, with Adults departing Siberia in July and juveniles in August to head south, where the majority of the population winters in Australasia. They largely take two routes with the majority of post-breeding adults flying south in flocks of less than 1000, east of Lake Baikal, to the Pacific coast of Russia and the Yellow Sea coasts of China and Korea. They mostly all fly direct to Micronesia and New Guinea in late August, departing here with the onset of the wetseason to north-west Australia in mid September. They start moving towards south-east Australia with numbers peaking in December to February. The other route heads east, taking most juveniles but a few adults into Alaska across the Bering Strait. Staying here from mid August to late October to fatten, it is presumed they take a direct non-stop trans-Pacific flight of more than 10,000 km to reach Australia and New Zealand. Some will continue south along the Pacific coast of North America into Washington state, less frequently to California and possibly into Latin America but only two recent records occur in Panama and Bolivia.[4]
It occurs as a rare autumn migrant to North America, but in western Europe only as a very rare vagrant with records in 11 different countries, mostly in the United Kindgom between August and October. It has been recorded in the Middle East and Central Asia, six times in Kazakhstan, once in Yeman and Oman. Within the Indian Ocean they have been documented at Christmas Island four times, totalling 16 birds between October and December. Three recorded observations at Cocos Island in Novmeber and December. Five records at the Chagos archipelago from September to December. Five records at the Seychelles, one in July, two in September to February overwintering and two on passage in November. They have been recently documented in Mozambique southern Africa for the first time in 2018.[4]
Description
Measurements:[5]
- Size: 22 cm
- Weight: 39-114 g
- Wingspan: 36–43 cm
Breeding adults are a rich brown with darker feather centres above, and white underneath apart from a buff breast. They have a light superciliary line above the eye and a chestnut crown. In winter, sharp-tailed sandpipers are grey above. The juveniles are brightly patterned above with rufous colouration and white mantle stripes.
This bird looks a lot like the pectoral sandpiper, within whose Asian range it breeds. It differs from that species in its breast pattern, stronger supercilium and more rufous crown. It has some similarities to the long-toed stint, but is much larger than the stint.
Habitat
In Siberia the breeding ground are mostly tundra made up of peat-hummock and lichen. On passage between breeding and wintering areas they favor the muddy edges of shallow freshwater or brackish wetlands with grass, emergent or inundated sedges, saltmarsh or other low vegetation. These include swamps, lakes, lagoons, and pools near coasts, waterholes, dams, saltpans and hypersaline salt lakes inland[4]. In Alaska they seem to prefer coastal moist graminoid meadows and riverine intertidally exposed mudbanks[6]. In Australia they are largely found around wetlands, preferring freshwater inland wetlands with grassy edges[7]. Once these epheneral terrestrial wetlands have dried out they tend to be on coastal mudflats, salt marsh and brackish lagoons and less often on similar wet fields of short grass[4]. Other areas they have been spotted in Australia include around sewage farms, flooded fields, mangroves, rocky shores and beaches[7].
Behaviour
Breeding
They breed from to June to August in the short Siberian summer, making shallow hollow lined nests with leave and grass that are hidden on the ground. The clutch size is usually four eggs, with the females incubating and raising the chicks[8]. The breeding plumage is more vivid, with breast feathers greater in chestnut colour and their chevron-shaped markings becoming more defined[7].
Foraging and feeding
These birds forage on the edge of wetlands, intertidal mudflats, either on sand or bare wet mud and in shallow water. They will also forage among inundated vegetation of grass, sedges or saltmarsh. After rain they can be found in paddocks of short grass, well away from water. At low tides they can be found on the intertidal mudflats, before moving inland to freshwater wetlands at the high tide. Occasionaly they forage on dry or wet mats of algae, among rotting seaweed or seagrass on beaches, edges of stony wetlands and exposed reefs[9]. Picking up food by sight or sometimes by probing, they mainly eat aquatic insects, molluscs, crustaceans, worms, occasionally seeds and other invertebrates[7].
References
- ^ BirdLife International (2022). "Calidris acuminata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T22693414A152588591. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-3.RLTS.T22693414A152588591.en. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
- ^ Thomas, GH; Wills, MA; Székely, T (August 2004). "A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny". BMC Evol. Biol. 4: 28. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-4-28. PMC 515296. PMID 15329156.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) Supplementary Material - ^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 31, 84. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ a b c d Allport, Gary (2018-12-14). "First records of Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Calidris acuminata for Mozambique and continental Africa, and additional records of Pectoral Sandpiper C. melanotos in Mozambique, with comments on identification and patterns of occurrence". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club. 138 (4): 307. doi:10.25226/bboc.v138i4.2018.a3. ISSN 0007-1595.
- ^ Oiseaux.net. "Bécasseau à queue pointue - Calidris acuminata - Sharp-tailed Sandpiper". www.oiseaux.net. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
- ^ Handel, Colleen M.; Robert E. Gill, Jr (2010-09-01). "Wayward Youth: Trans-Beringian Movement and Differential Southward Migration by Juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpipers". ARCTIC. 63 (3): 273–288. doi:10.14430/arctic1492. ISSN 1923-1245.
- ^ a b c d "Sharp-tailed sandpiper - Threatend Fauna of the Hunter and Mid Coast" (PDF). Local Land Services. July 2021. Retrieved 05/06/2023.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|access-date=(help)CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Calidris acuminata, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper". Museums Victoria Collections. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
- ^ "Species Profile and Threats Database - Calidris acuminata — Sharp-tailed Sandpiper". Species Profile and Threats Database. 05/06/2023.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
External links
- Oiseaux Photos