Quantcast

Stilt Sandpiper

Calidris himantopusOrder: CHARADRIIFORMESFamily: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Stilt Sandpiper Portrait
  Copyright 2002-2007 Whatbird.com
Click here for licensing information Splitbar

General

Stilt Sandpiper: Medium-sized sandpiper with gray-brown upperparts, white rump, and heavily barred white underparts. Head has a dark cap, white eyebrows, and brown ear patches. Bill is long, black, and curved down at tip. Legs are long and gray-green. Sexes are similar. Winter adult has dull gray upperparts, distinct white eyebrows, and white underparts with faint bars on breast and sides.

Range and Habitat

Stilt Sandpiper: Breeds from northeastern Alaska to northeastern Manitoba and northernmost Ontario. Spends winters in South America and casually north to Florida and southern California. Preferred habitats include sedge meadows interrupted by old beach ridges, eskers, or other elevated areas dominated by dwarf birch, heaths, willows, crowberries, and dryads.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"querp"

Interesting Facts

 Stilt Sandpipers nest as close as 12 feet to other shorebirds, but at least 900 feet from their own kind, probably as a defense against predators.

 Seeds picked from the water or dry ground can make up nearly one-third of the diet, depending upon their availability.

 A group of sandpipers has many collective nouns, including a "bind", "contradiction", "fling", "hill", and "time-step" of sandpipers.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

Splitbar
Range Map for Stilt Sandpiper
.
Bird database and its related content, illustrations and media is Copyright © 2002 - 2007  Whatbird.com
All rights reserved. No part of this web site may be reproduced without written permission from Mitch Waite Group.
 Privacy Policy.
Percevia® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Sandpiper (Scolopacidae)_blue
Species Calidris himantopus
Length7.5 - 8.5 Inches
Wingspan16 Inches

Stilt Sandpiper

Stilt Sandpiper: Medium sandpiper with gray-brown upperparts, white rump, heavily barred white underparts. Head has a dark cap, white eyebrows, and brown ear patches. Bill is long, black, and curved down at tip. Legs are long and gray-green. Powerful, direct flight on long, rapidly beating wings.

● Song: "querp"

● Foraging & Feeding: Stilt Sandpiper: Feeds on insects, small snails, and small seeds; forages by probing in soft mud on mudflats or while wading in shallow water.

● Breeding & nesting: Stilt Sandpiper: Four cream, pale green or olive eggs spotted with brown are laid in a ground nest made of grass and built in a relatively open area on dry tundra; occasionally nests next to a shrub. Incubation ranges from 19 to 21 days and is carried out by both parents. Young fly at 17 to 18 days.

● Similar species: Stilt Sandpiper: Dowitchers have longer, straighter bills. Yellowlegs have brighter yellow legs and straight bills. Dunlins and Curlew Sandpipers have dark legs and thinner bills; Dunlin also has a dark rump.

Flight Pattern

Strong direct flight with powerful rapid wing beats.
Stilt Sandpiper Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Stilt Sandpiper: Breeds from northeastern Alaska to northeastern Manitoba and northernmost Ontario. Spends winters in South America and casually north to Florida and southern California. Preferred habitats include sedge meadows interrupted by old beach ridges, eskers, or other elevated areas dominated by dwarf birch, heaths, willows, crowberries, and dryads.
BreedingMonogamous
Population
MigrationMigratory
Weight2.1 Ounces