Pectoral Sandpiper

Calidris melanotosOrder: CHARADRIIFORMESFamily: Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

General

Pectoral Sandpiper: Medium-sized sandpiper with scaled, dark brown upperparts, heavily streaked brown breast, and plain white belly. Crown and eyestripe are dark brown. Faint wing-bar and black rump with white edges are visible in flight. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has pale buff, heavily streaked breast.

Range and Habitat

Pectoral Sandpiper: Breeds on arctic tundra from Alaska to Hudson Bay; also found in Siberia. Spends winters in South America. Preferred habitats include marshes and grassy pools.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"churrrt", "krrrek", "tik-tik-tik"

Interesting Facts

The breeding male Pectoral Sandpiper has an inflatable throat sac, which expands and contracts rhythmically during display flights. The accompanying vocalization consists of a series of hollow hoots.

They are promiscuous: males mate with multiple females, and females mate with multiple males.

They were once known as the Grass Snipe and the Krieker. Cox’s Sandpiper is a hybrid between this species and the Curlew Sandpiper.

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

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper: Medium sandpiper with scaled, dark brown upperparts, heavily streaked brown breast, plain white belly. Crown, eyestripe are dark brown. Faint wing-bar and black rump with white edges are visible in flight. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats. Zigzag pattern when flushed.

● Song: "churrrt", "krrrek", "tik-tik-tik"

● Foraging & Feeding: Pectoral Sandpiper: Feeds mainly on insects, also eats small crustaceans, seeds, and spiders.

● Breeding & nesting: Pectoral Sandpiper: Four white to olive buff eggs blotched with dark brown are laid in a cup of grass and leaves hidden on the ground. Female incubates the eggs for 21 to 23 days.

● Similar species: Pectoral Sandpiper: Sharp-tailed Sandpiper has paler breast and rufous-brown crown. Other sandpipers lack the strongly striped brown breast.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

● Range & Habitat: Pectoral Sandpiper: Breeds on arctic tundra from Alaska to Hudson Bay; also found in Siberia. Spends winters in South America. Preferred habitats include marshes and grassy pools.

^BreedingPromiscuous

^PopulationFairly common to common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight3.5 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America