Rock sandpiper

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Rock sandpiper
Calidris ptilocnemis1.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Calidris
Species:
C. ptilocnemis
Binomial name
Calidris ptilocnemis
(Coues, 1873)
Calidris ptilocnemis map.svg
Synonyms

Erolia ptilocnemis

The rock sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis) is a small shorebird in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae. This is a hardy sandpiper that breeds in the arctic and subarctic regions of Alaska and the Chukotka and Kamchatka Peninsulas. It is closely related to the purple sandpiper that breeds in arctic regions of northeast Canada and the northwest Palearctic.

Contents

Taxonomy

The rock sandpiper was formally described in 1873 by the American ornithologist Elliott Coues and given the binomial name Tringa ptilocnemis. [2] It was formerly placed in the genus Erolia, [3] [4] but is now placed with 23 other sandpipers in the genus Calidris that was introduced in 1804 by the German naturalist Blasius Merrem. [5] [6] The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific epithet ptilocnemis combines the Ancient Greek ptilon meaning "feather" with knēmē meaning "leg". [7] Within the genus Calidris the rock sandpiper is closely related to the sanderling (Calidris alba) and dunlin (Calidris alpina) and is sister to the purple sandpiper (Calidris maritima). [8]

Four subspecies are recognised: [6]

Description

Rock Sandpiper on the Humboldt Bay North Jetty, near Eureka, California RockSandpiper-18FEB2017.jpg
Rock Sandpiper on the Humboldt Bay North Jetty, near Eureka, California

Adults have short yellow legs and a medium thin dark bill. The body is dark on top with a slight purplish gloss and mainly white underneath. The breast is smeared with grey and the rump is black. The Pribilof Islands subspecies of this bird shows a bold black belly patch.

Distribution and habitat

Birds migrate south to rocky ice-free Pacific coasts in winter. The subspecies leap frog each other for winter, with more northerly breeders passing south of more southerly breeders. It reproduces in tundra habitats, typically favoring drier and more desolate areas with limited vegetation such as lichen, moss, and sparse grasses. [9] It can form rather large wintering flocks.

Rock Sandpipers which spend the non-breeding season in the Pacific Basin, Alaska, have to endure harsh conditions where they rely on high prey quality, especially of their primary prey - the bivalve Macoma balthica . [10]

Behaviour and ecology

Breeding

Their breeding habitat is the northern tundra on Arctic Pacific coast of Alaska and the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands. The birds also breed in Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. The breeding pair is usually monogamous, with pair bonds usually lasting several years. They nest on the ground either elevated on rocks or in lower damp location. The male makes several scrapes; the female chooses one and lays 4 eggs. Both male and female take the responsibility for incubation.

Diet

Newly hatched chick Rock sandpiper chick on St. George by Kevin Pietrzak USFWS.jpg
Newly hatched chick

These birds forage on rocky coasts. They mainly eat insects, mollusks, marine worms, also some plant material. It often feeds up to its breast in water, and often swims. It roosts on rocks near its feeding grounds just above the high tide spray.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanderling</span> Species of bird

The sanderling is a small wading bird. The name derives from Old English sand-yrðling, "sand-ploughman". The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific, alba, is Latin for "white".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunlin</span> Species of bird

The dunlin is a small wader, formerly sometimes separated with the other "stints" in the genus Erolia. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from dun, "dull brown", with the suffix -ling, meaning a person or thing with the given quality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willet</span> Species of bird

The willet is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is a relatively large and robust sandpiper and is the largest of the species called "shanks" in the genus Tringa. Its closest relative is the lesser yellowlegs, a much smaller bird with a very different appearance apart from the fine, clear, and dense pattern of the neck, which both species show in breeding plumage. It breeds in North America and the West Indies and winters in southern North America, Central America, the West Indies and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purple sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The purple sandpiper is a small shorebird in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae. This is a hardy sandpiper that breeds in the arctic and subarctic regions of Eurasia and North America and winters further south on the Atlantic coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red knot</span> Species of bird

The red knot or just knot is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the Calidris sandpipers, second only to the great knot. Six subspecies are recognised.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-rumped sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The white-rumped sandpiper is a small shorebird that breeds in the northern tundra of Canada and Alaska. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds; these are known collectively as "peeps" or "stints".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Short-billed dowitcher</span> Species of bird

The short-billed dowitcher, like its congener the long-billed dowitcher, is a medium-sized, stocky, long-billed shorebird in the family Scolopacidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bar-tailed godwit</span> Species of bird

The bar-tailed godwit is a large and strongly migratory wader in the family Scolopacidae, which feeds on bristle-worms and shellfish on coastal mudflats and estuaries. It has distinctive red breeding plumage, long legs, and a long upturned bill. Bar-tailed godwits breed on Arctic coasts and tundra from Scandinavia to Alaska, and overwinter on coasts in temperate and tropical regions of Australia and New Zealand. The migration of the subspecies Limosa lapponica baueri across the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to New Zealand is the longest known non-stop flight of any bird, and also the longest journey without pausing to feed by any animal. The round-trip migration for this subspecies is over 29,000 km (18,020 mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curlew sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The curlew sandpiper is a small wader that breeds on the tundra of Arctic Siberia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terek sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The Terek sandpiper is a small migratory Palearctic wader species and is the only member of the genus Xenus. It is named after the Terek River which flows into the west of the Caspian Sea, as it was first observed around this area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharp-tailed sandpiper</span> Species of shorebird

The sharp-tailed sandpiper is a small-medium migratory wader or shorebird, found mostly in Siberia during the summer breeding period and Australia for wintering.

<i>Calidris</i> Genus of birds

Calidris is a genus of Arctic-breeding, strongly migratory wading birds in the family Scolopacidae. These birds form huge mixed flocks on coasts and estuaries in winter. Migratory shorebirds are shown to have decline in reproductive traits because of temporal changes of their breeding seasons(Weiser et al., 2018). They are the typical "sandpipers", small to medium-sized, long-winged and relatively short-billed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pectoral sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The pectoral sandpiper is a small, migratory wader that breeds in North America and Asia, wintering in South America and Oceania. It eats small invertebrates. Its nest, a hole scraped in the ground and with a thick lining, is deep enough to protect its four eggs from the cool breezes of its breeding grounds. The pectoral sandpiper is 21 cm (8.3 in) long, with a wingspan of 46 cm (18 in).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stilt sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The stilt sandpiper is a small shorebird. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus name kalidris or skalidris is a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific himantopus means "strap foot" or "thong foot".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buff-breasted sandpiper</span> Species of bird

The buff-breasted sandpiper is a small shorebird. The species name subruficollis is from Latin subrufus, "reddish" and collis, "-necked/-throated". It is a calidrid sandpiper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surfbird</span> Species of bird

The surfbird is a small stocky wader in the family Scolopacidae. It was once considered to be allied to the turnstones, and placed in the monotypic genus Aphriza, but is now placed in the genus Calidris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Matthew Island</span> American uninhabited island in Alaska

St. Matthew Island is an uninhabited, remote island in the Bering Sea in Alaska, 183 miles (295 km) west-northwest of Nunivak Island. The entire island's natural scenery and wildlife is protected as it is part of the Bering Sea unit of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whiskered auklet</span> Species of bird

The whiskered auklet is a small seabird of the auk family. It has a more restricted range than other members of its genus, Aethia, living only around the Aleutian Islands and on some islands off Siberia, and breeding on these islands. It is one of the smallest alcids, only the closely related least auklet being smaller. Its name is derived from the long white feathers on its face that are part of its breeding plumage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-faced cormorant</span> Species of bird

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References

On St. Paul Island, Alaska Rock sandpiper on St. Paul Island.jpg
On St. Paul Island, Alaska
  1. BirdLife International (2018). "Calidris ptilocnemis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2018: e.T22693424A131929912. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22693424A131929912.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. Coues, Elliot (1875) [1873]. A Report Upon the Condition of Affairs in the Territory of Alaska. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 182, Footnote.
  3. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 285.
  4. Committee on Classification and Nomenclature (1973). "Thirty-Second Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-List of North American Birds". Auk. 90 (2): 411–419 [415].
  5. Merrem, Blasius (8 June 1804). "Naturgeschichte". Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung (in German). 168. Col. 542. Published anonymously.
  6. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Sandpipers, snipes, coursers". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  7. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp.  84, 322. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  8. Gibson, Rosemary; Baker, Allan (2012). "Multiple gene sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships in the shorebird suborder Scolopaci (Aves: Charadriiformes)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 64 (1): 66–72. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.03.008. PMID   22491071.
  9. "Rock Sandpiper | Audubon Field Guide". www.audubon.org. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  10. Ruthrauff, D. R.; Dekinga, A.; Gill Jr, R. E.; Piersma, T. (2018). "Energetic solutions of Rock Sandpipers to harsh winter conditions rely on prey quality" (PDF). Ibis. 160 (2): 397–412. doi:10.1111/ibi.12534.