Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Calidris acuminataOrder: CHARADRIIFORMESFamily: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

General

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper: Medium-sized sandpiper with dark brown upperparts and white underparts with faint olive-brown streaks on breast and sides. Head has a dark brown crown and white eyestripe. Wings are dark brown. Tail is dark brown and pointed in flight. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper: Eurasian species; casual spring and common fall migrant in western Alaska; rare fall migrant along entire Pacific coast. Preferred habitats include tidal sandbars, mudflats, estuaries, swamps, inland lakes, and shorelines.

Voice Text

"pleep-pleep-trrt"

Interesting Facts

A review of new data has indicated that the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper should perhaps better be placed into the genus Philomachus - as P. acuminatus - which now contains only the Ruff.

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.

Its population as of 2004 was estimated at 160,000 individuals.

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

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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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.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper: Medium sandpiper with dark brown upperparts and white underparts with faint olive-brown streaks on breast and sides. Head has rufous crown, white eye ring and eyestripe. Wings are dark brown. Tail is dark brown and pointed in flight. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Song: "pleep-pleep-trrt"

● Foraging & Feeding: Sharp-tailed Sandpiper: Eats worms, snails, crustaceans, insects, and occasionally aquatic vegetation; forages in small groups or large flocks, sometimes with other species.

● Breeding & nesting: Sharp-tailed Sandpiper: Four brown-olive or green eggs speckled with brown are laid in a ground nest made of grass and leaves. Male is polygamous, mating with one or more females each season. Incubation ranges from 19 to 23 days and is carried out by the female. Young fly at 18 to 21 days.

● Similar species: Sharp-tailed Sandpiper: Pectoral Sandpiper has a more mottled plumage and white eyebrow.

Flight Pattern

Swift flight with rapid wing beats.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Sharp-tailed Sandpiper: Eurasian species; casual spring and common fall migrant in western Alaska; rare fall migrant along entire Pacific coast. Preferred habitats include tidal sandbars, mudflats, estuaries, swamps, inland lakes, and shorelines.

^BreedingPolygamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationCasual to rare

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight2.5 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America