Semipalmated sandpiper

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Semipalmated sandpiper
SemiPalmHeislerville.png
Individual on a mudflat in Heislerville, Cumberland County, NJ, May 2022.
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Scolopacidae
Genus: Calidris
Species:
C. pusilla
Binomial name
Calidris pusilla
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Calidris pusilla map.svg
Synonyms
  • Tringa pusillaLinnaeus, 1766
  • Ereunetes pusillus(Linnaeus, 1766) (but see text)
  • Erolia pusilla(Linnaeus, 1766)

The semipalmated sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) is a very small shorebird. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific pusilla is Latin for "very small". [2]

Contents

It is sometimes separated with other "stints" in Erolia, but, although these apparently form a monophyletic group, the present species' old genus Ereunetes had been proposed before Erolia.

Description

It is a small sandpiper, 15–18 cm (5.9-7.1 in) long and weighing around 18-51.5  g (0.6-1.8  oz). [3] Wingspan ranges from 13.8 to 14.6 in (35-37 cm). [4] Adults have black legs and a short, stout, straight dark bill. The body is dark grey-brown on top and white underneath. The head and neck are tinged light grey-brown. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds, in particular the western sandpiper; these are known collectively as "peeps" or "stints".

Breeding and habitat

Their breeding habitat is the southern tundra in Canada and Alaska near water. They nest on the ground. The male makes several shallow scrapes; the female chooses one and adds grass and other material to line the nest. The female lays 4 eggs; the male assists in incubation. After a few days, the female leaves the young with the male; the young feed themselves.

These birds forage on mudflats, picking up food by sight and feel (bill). They mainly eat aquatic insects and their larvae, spiders, snails, worms [5] and crustaceans. Semipalmated sandpipers rely heavily on horseshoe crab eggs during spring migration. [5] Females will also eat small mammal bones as an extra source of calcium during egg laying. [5]

Status and migration

They are long distance migrants and winter in coastal South America, with some going to the southern United States and the Caribbean. They migrate in flocks which can number in the hundreds of thousands, particularly in favoured feeding locations such as the Bay of Fundy and Delaware Bay. This species is a rare but regular vagrant to western Europe.

Although very numerous, these birds are highly dependent on a few key stopover habitats during their migration, notably Mary's Point and Johnson's Mills along Shepody Bay, an arm of the Bay of Fundy. [6] During the months of July and August, the Nature Conservancy of Canada runs an information center about these shorebirds in Johnson's Mills, New Brunswick. [7]

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">Least sandpiper</span> Species of bird

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

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

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

Baird's sandpiper 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. 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.

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

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

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

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<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.

<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">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

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<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

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary's Point</span> Wetland in Albert County, New Brunswick, Canada

Mary's Point is a 12 square kilometres (4.6 sq mi) wetland in Albert County, New Brunswick, Canada. It is at the head of the Bay of Fundy, just outside the small community of Harvey and approximately 40 km (25 mi) south of Moncton. Designated a Ramsar wetland of international importance on May 24, 1982, it is also part of the Fundy biosphere reserve established in 2007, which also contains the Shepody Bay wetland. It was also the first Canadian site in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve, as part of the Bay of Fundy Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve. It is within the Shepody Bay National Wildlife Area, which is administered by the Canadian Wildlife Service.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Calidris pusilla". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22693373A93400702. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22693373A93400702.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp.  84, 325. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "Semipalmated Sandpiper". All About Birds. Cornell University. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  4. "Semipalmated Sandpiper Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology". www.allaboutbirds.org. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  5. 1 2 3 "Calidris pusilla (Semipalmated sandpiper)".
  6. "Shepody National Wildlife Area". Archived from the original on 26 August 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  7. "NCC: Johnson's Mills Shorebird Reserve and Interpretive Centre". Nature Conservancy Canada. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2014.

Further reading

Identification