Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri)
Ballinclamper Beach
County Waterford 02-08-2021
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Charadriiformes
Family:Scolopacidae
Genus:Calidris
Species:C. mauri
Binomial name
Calidris mauri
Measurements:
Length: 5.5-6.7 in (14-17 cm)
Weight: 0.8-1.2 oz (22-35 g)
Wingspan: 13.8-14.6 in (35-37 cm)
Adults have dark legs and a short, thin, dark bill, thinner at the tip. The body is brown on top and white underneath. They are reddish-brown on the crown. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds, especially the semipalmated sandpiper. This is particularly the case in winter plumage, when both species are plain gray. The western sandpiper acquires winter plumage much earlier in the autumn than the semipalmated sandpiper. With rufous and gold markings on the head and wings, breeding adult Western Sandpipers are the most colorful of the tiny North American sandpipers known as “peeps.” This abundant shorebird gathers in flocks numbering in the hundreds of thousands in California and Alaska during spring migration. It’s among the continent’s great wildlife spectacles, particularly when they fly up and wheel about, exercising their wings (or fleeing from falcons on the hunt) before flying to remote nesting grounds in the Arctic.
Their breeding habitat is tundra in eastern Siberia and Alaska. They nest on the ground usually under some vegetation. The male makes several scrapes; the female selects one and lays 4 eggs. Both parents incubate and care for dependent young, who feed themselves. Sometimes the female deserts her mate and brood prior to offspring fledging.
Like many sandpiper species, Western Sandpiper females have longer bills than males and are generally larger. In the populations of Western Sandpipers that winter farthest south, females outnumber males, while the reverse is true in the northern parts of the winter range.
In migration, the Western Sandpiper stages in huge, spectacular flocks, particularly along the Pacific coast at San Francisco Bay and in the Copper River Delta in Alaska. Estimates suggest that nearly the whole breeding population passes through the Copper River Delta during just a few weeks each spring.
Many of the Western Sandpipers that winter in Central America remain there for the first summer of their lives, rather than migrating north to breed. By contrast, birds of the same age that winter in the United States or Mexico usually attempt to return to the breeding grounds in their first spring.
Western Sandpipers compete with many other sandpiper species when foraging. When larger Dunlin are absent, Western Sandpipers forage at the edge of the receding or advancing tide, where prey is easiest to catch. When Dunlin are present, Westerns often forage on drier areas of mud.
The oldest recorded Western Sandpiper was at least 9 years, 2 months, when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Kansas.
Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri)
Ballinclamper Beach
County Waterford 02-08-2021
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Charadriiformes
Family:Scolopacidae
Genus:Calidris
Species:C. mauri
Binomial name
Calidris mauri
Measurements:
Length: 5.5-6.7 in (14-17 cm)
Weight: 0.8-1.2 oz (22-35 g)
Wingspan: 13.8-14.6 in (35-37 cm)
Adults have dark legs and a short, thin, dark bill, thinner at the tip. The body is brown on top and white underneath. They are reddish-brown on the crown. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds, especially the semipalmated sandpiper. This is particularly the case in winter plumage, when both species are plain gray. The western sandpiper acquires winter plumage much earlier in the autumn than the semipalmated sandpiper. With rufous and gold markings on the head and wings, breeding adult Western Sandpipers are the most colorful of the tiny North American sandpipers known as “peeps.” This abundant shorebird gathers in flocks numbering in the hundreds of thousands in California and Alaska during spring migration. It’s among the continent’s great wildlife spectacles, particularly when they fly up and wheel about, exercising their wings (or fleeing from falcons on the hunt) before flying to remote nesting grounds in the Arctic.
Their breeding habitat is tundra in eastern Siberia and Alaska. They nest on the ground usually under some vegetation. The male makes several scrapes; the female selects one and lays 4 eggs. Both parents incubate and care for dependent young, who feed themselves. Sometimes the female deserts her mate and brood prior to offspring fledging.
Like many sandpiper species, Western Sandpiper females have longer bills than males and are generally larger. In the populations of Western Sandpipers that winter farthest south, females outnumber males, while the reverse is true in the northern parts of the winter range.
In migration, the Western Sandpiper stages in huge, spectacular flocks, particularly along the Pacific coast at San Francisco Bay and in the Copper River Delta in Alaska. Estimates suggest that nearly the whole breeding population passes through the Copper River Delta during just a few weeks each spring.
Many of the Western Sandpipers that winter in Central America remain there for the first summer of their lives, rather than migrating north to breed. By contrast, birds of the same age that winter in the United States or Mexico usually attempt to return to the breeding grounds in their first spring.
Western Sandpipers compete with many other sandpiper species when foraging. When larger Dunlin are absent, Western Sandpipers forage at the edge of the receding or advancing tide, where prey is easiest to catch. When Dunlin are present, Westerns often forage on drier areas of mud.
The oldest recorded Western Sandpiper was at least 9 years, 2 months, when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Kansas.