Baird's sandpiper

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Baird's sandpiper
Calidris bairdii.jpg
Baird's sandpiper (Calidris bairdii) foraging for insects
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Calidris
Species:
C. bairdii
Binomial name
Calidris bairdii
(Coues, 1861)
Calidris bairdii map.svg
Range
  Breeding
  Nonbreeding
  Passage
Synonyms

Actodromas bairdii
Erolia bairdii

Baird's sandpiper (Calidris bairdii) is a small shorebird. It is among those calidrids which were formerly included in the genus Erolia, which was subsumed into the genus Calidris in 1973. [2] The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The English name and specific bairdii commemorate Spencer Fullerton Baird, 19th-century naturalist and assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. [3]

Contents

Description

Adults have black legs and a short, straight, thin dark bill. They are dark brown on top and mainly white underneath with a black patch on the rump. The head and breast are light brown with dark streaks. In winter plumage, this species is paler brownish gray above. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds; these are known collectively as "peeps" or "stints".

One of the best identification features is the long wings, which extend beyond the tail when the bird is on the ground. Only the white-rumped sandpiper also shows this, and that bird can be distinguished by its namesake feature.

Standard Measurements [4] [5]
length 180–190 mm (7–7.6 in)
weight 38 g (1.3 oz)
wingspan 430 mm (17 in)
wing 117.6–125.3 mm (4.63–4.93 in)
tail 50–57 mm (2.0–2.2 in)
culmen 20.5–24.5 mm (0.81–0.96 in)
tarsus 21.3–24.2 mm (0.84–0.95 in)

Ecology

Chicks on the ground, camouflaged Baird's Sandpiper chicks.jpg
Chicks on the ground, camouflaged
Eggs in a nest Calidris bairdii1.jpg
Eggs in a nest

Baird's sandpipers breed in the northern tundra from eastern Siberia to western Greenland. They nest on the ground, usually in dry locations with low vegetation.

They are a long-distance migrant, wintering in South America. This species is a rare vagrant to western Europe.

Baird's sandpiper might have hybridized with the buff-breasted sandpiper.

These birds forage by moving about mudflats, picking up food by sight. They mainly eat insects, also some small crustaceans.

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stint</span> Group of birds

A stint is one of several very small waders in the paraphyletic "Calidris" assemblage – often separated in Erolia – which in North America are known as peeps. They are scolopacid waders much similar in ecomorphology to their distant relatives, the charadriid plovers.

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

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

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<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">Hudsonian godwit</span> Species of bird

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The red-necked stint is a small migratory wader. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ruficollis is from Latin rufus, "red" and collum, "neck".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temminck's stint</span> Species of bird

Temminck's stint is a small wader. This bird's common name and Latin binomial commemorate the Dutch naturalist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long-toed stint</span> Species of bird

The long-toed stint is a small wader. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific subminuta is from Latin sub, "near to" and minuta, "small" from its similarity to the little stint, Calidris minuta.

<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).

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

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

The rock sandpiper 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.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2018). "Calidris bairdii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2018: e.T22693404A129653281. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22693404A129653281.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. Ryser, Fred A. (1985). Birds of the Great Basin: A Natural History. Reno, NV, US: University of Nevada Press. p. 193. ISBN   0-87417-080-X.
  3. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp.  66, 84. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. Godfrey, W. Earl (1966). The Birds of Canada. Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. p. 154.
  5. Sibley, David Allen (2000). The Sibley Guide to Birds . New York: Knopf. p.  185. ISBN   0-679-45122-6.